Southwest’s CEO says it ‘just couldn’t keep up with the volume’ of problems that caused its holiday chaos: report

Southwest’s CEO says it ‘just couldn’t keep up with the volume’ of problems that caused its holiday chaos: report

Southwest Airlines' CEO said aircraft engines froze and jetways wouldn't move after a storm caused an operational meltdown that led to thousands of flights being canceled, reported. Bob Jordan told the newspaper that its problems quickly mounted after the storm hit and that it couldn't keep up with the volume of cancellations and delays. "We had jetways that wouldn't move, and we had frozen de-icing fluid. We had aircraft engines that were frozen or iced, and on and on and on," he said in the interview. He added: "You're trying to solve these problems. And as you're solving them, you have more problems. More cancels, more problems; more cancels, more problems. We just couldn't keep up with the volume — volume we'd never seen before." Southwest canceled , or 71% of its flight schedule, on December 26 for safety reasons. It canceled in December in total because of the meltdown. One passenger, Olivia Laskowski, says she was with her cat after her flight was canceled. Another passenger, who is 14 years old, was at an airport on Christmas Eve. The CEO's comments come a day after a group of a class action against Jordan, its CFO, executive chairman and the