Gary Kelly, CEO of SWA, said that sick calls were at the same rate as usually experienced during this time of year. The pilots union says that there is no concerted activity to reduce flights.
The truth of the matter is four-fold. One, they are understaffed both above the wing and below the wing. All airlines are understaffed. Too many retired or were laid off during the pandemic. Two, there were pop up thunderstorm cells around Jacksonville that clobbered all flying up and down the east coast Friday night. Three, ATC was short-handed Friday night in the high altitude sectors slowing down all traffic up and down the east coast. Four, Southwest uses a point-to-point operational model that is unique to the major airlines. While it is cheaper to operate on a day-to-day basis, it is seriously flawed when things go wrong. When it goes wrong, it goes wrong in a big way with limited ability to recover. Other airlines use the hub-and-spoke model which is more expensive to operate on a regular basis. The hub-and-spoke model gives the other major airlines the ability to recover the operation quickly when things go bad.
Thirty years in the industry. You learn a thing or two.
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