Southwest Airlines Struggles to Right Its Operation After Winter Storm

Southwest Airlines canceled thousands of flights on Tuesday and Wednesday due to a deadly winter storm that has left holiday travelers stranded around the country.

The company's operation could be disrupted for a while. People at airports where Southwest flies sleep on floors and wait hours in line.

Around 11:30 a.m. More than 2,900 US flights were canceled and more than 2,400 were delayed on Tuesday. Southwest had already canceled more than half of its flights for the day.

A majority of the airline's Wednesday and Thursday flights have been canceled. Southwest's shares were down on Tuesday.

Aviation experts said the storm had a disproportionate impact on Southwest because of the way it configured its network. Robert W. Mann Jr., a former airline executive who now runs a consulting firm, said that Southwest has recently struggled with staffing shortages that have increased tensions between management and workers.

Mr. Mann said that Southwest had taken the worst of it. It was cultural more than anything else.

Southwest was in damage control mode by late Monday and into Tuesday. The airline apologized multiple times for the canceled flights. The airline's problems were unacceptable and it was doing all it could to fix them.

Chris Perry, a Southwest spokesman, said in an email that the biggest issue at the moment is getting their crews and aircraft in the right places.

The U.S. Department of Transportation said in a statement on Monday that it would look into the problems at Southwest, adding that it was concerned by the airline's "unacceptable rate of cancellation and delays."

Southwest's structure makes it vulnerable to weather problems, especially one as geographically extensive and as intensive as this storm has been, according to an email from an airline analyst.

He said that he hadn't seen an airline experience such a large operational problem.

The majority of airlines operate on a hub and spoke basis, with planes returning to a hub airport after flying out of other cities. Southwest uses a "point-to-point" approach in which planes tend to fly from destination to destination without stopping.

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When bad weather strikes, hub and spoke airlines can shut down certain routes. Southwest can't do that without disrupting flights and routes.

The system could cause cascading negative effects if things go wrong, according to David Vernon, an airline analyst at the financial firm.

Southwest doesn't exchange tickets with other airlines so the airline can't rebook passengers on other flights, making it worse for customers. He said the debacle could force the airline to buy back frustrated customers or conduct more promotions.

No one region or airport was hit the hardest by the cancellation. More than 170 flights from Denver International Airport and more than 115 flights from Chicago Midway International were canceled on Tuesday. More than 100 flights were canceled at Harry Reid International in Las Vegas, as well as at Baltimore-Washington International, Dallas Love Field, and Nashville International in Tennessee.

Millions of travelers have been affected by the winter storm. Last Thursday, airlines called off more than 2,600 flights. About a quarter of all US flights were canceled the day after. More than 3000 flights were canceled on Christmas Eve and less than 3,200 flights were canceled on Christmas Day.

In Buffalo, at least 28 people died and roads were rendered useless after the worst winter storm in more than 50 years. The snow was expected to end early Tuesday after it had accumulated 49 inches. Kathy Hochul said on Monday that many streets hadn't beenplowed.

According to poweroutage.us, thousands remained without power in Maine and New York early Tuesday, despite the fact that most of the power had been restored.

Steve helped report.