Various aviation and airline executives and experts spoke Wednesday on safety in the industry at an event hosted by POLITICO.
Speakers included Bob Jordan, CEO of Southwest Airlines, Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kans. and Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Michael Whitaker and other executives from the airline industry.
Read More
Southwest Airlines shut down on Tuesday due to what it says is “intermittent technology issues,” just months after the airline suffered from a major meltdown over the holiday season.
Read More
Southwest Airlines said Friday the tens of thousands of delayed and canceled flights triggered by a recent winter storm will cost the company $725 million to $825 million.
The company made the disclosure in a federal regulatory filing.
Read More
A federal judge has awarded a former Southwest Airlines flight attendant the maximum amount in damages allowed under federal law and issued an injunction against the airline and its union from discriminating against flight attendants because of their religious beliefs.
Judge Brantley Starr, ruling for the U.S. District Court Northern District of Texas, last week ordered Southwest to pay Carter back pay and other forms of relief that the jury awarded when she won her lawsuit in July.
Read More
A federal judge has ordered Southwest Airlines to rehire a flight attendant and award her damages, back pay, and interest after she was fired in 2017 for stating her pro-life views on social media.
The ruling marks a victory for the religious freedom rights of Christians in the workplace at the same time that the U.S. Supreme Court wrestles with the issue in 303 Creative v. Elenis.
Read More
Mask mandates do little, if anything, to make the air safer inside airplanes, two major airline CEOs argued before Congress Wednesday.
“I think the case is very strong that masks don’t add much, if anything, in the air cabin environment,” Gary Kelly, chief executive of Southwest Airlines, told lawmakers. Being inside a plane “is very safe and very high quality compared to any other indoor setting,” Kelly said. The air filters on planes turn over clean air every three minutes, eliminating nearly all airborne pathogens, he explained.
Read More
Southwest Airlines announced Thursday that it would adjust its December flight schedule to adjust for ongoing labor shortages.
Southwest canceled over 2,000 flights on Oct. 10 and 11, costing the company over $75 million, according to Southwest’s Q3 earnings report. The airline attributed the canceled flights to weather and air traffic control issues but later admitted to experiencing a labor shortage, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The airline expects to cut its Q4 flight schedule by 8% from 2019, compared to a 5% reduction the company initially planned for, according to the WSJ. The company also expects a decline in staffing compared to its historical average, according to its Q3 earnings report.
Read More
Southwest Airlines has scrapped its plan to put unvaccinated employees on unpaid leave while their exemption requests are under review, CNBC reported Tuesday.
Unvaccinated employees who have applied for, but haven’t yet received a religious or medical exemption, will reportedly be able to keep their jobs—for now. The federal deadline for the Biden regime’s vaccine mandate is December 8. If their requests for exemptions are not approved by that date, airline officials say they can continue to work “while following mask and distancing guidelines until the request has been reviewed.”
Read More
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki proudly declared on Tuesday that Joe Biden is using the pandemic to inflict “fundamental change” on the American economy.
When asked during the White House press briefing whether some programs in Biden’s $4.5 trillion budget proposal should get cut, Psaki rejected the notion, asserting that the pandemic was the perfect opportunity for Democrats to exploit the pandemic.
Read More