Southwest Airlines is once again in the news after an unexpected data connection failure. Flights were grounded beginning at 10:30 am on Tuesday, and flight delays lasted all day. These delays come after Southwest faced weather and technology failures that canceled 16,000 flights around the holidays last year.
Why it matters: Southwest announced in January that it would invest $1 billion in technology updates to prevent a repeat of issues that cost the airline a reported $800 million. The airline also appointed a new Chief Information Officer to oversee the upgrades.
- 43% of Southwest’s schedule on Tuesday was delayed, or about 1,800 flights.
- In a statement, Southwest said it’s IT teams worked quickly to minimize the disruption and get flights back in the air.
- The ground stop was called off at 11:35 am, just over an hour after flights were grounded.
