Southwest Airlines is experiencing some of the most dramatic cancellations and delays in history, with some putting blame on the carrier’s operational systems.
For nearly a week, passengers have been stranded at airports across the country, with thousands of flights delayed or canceled during the holidays. The meltdown is likely to cost Southwest Airlines hundreds of millions of dollars.
The Dallas-based carrier is one of a few that still uses a point-to-point route system, where airlines fly between smaller markets at shorter distances. Point-to-point systems, or direct-route systems, used to be the norm for carriers before the U.S. federal government deregulated the airlines in 1978. Since then, most of the country’s major carriers have adopted a hub-and-spoke route system, which allows for multiple spokes, or routes, to connect to designated hub airports.
The point-to-point system allows Southwest to pick up different crews daily. When travel conditions are normal, this allows it to fly more routes in a 24-hour span than other airlines.
But when there’s a delay or a busy period, this can prove to be troublesome. And having crews scattered all over the country compounded the airline’s problems over the last week when it needed to reschedule lots of flights.
But the point-to-point system also contributes to Southwest’s success. It allows more direct flights from smaller cities and is part of the reason the airline is the largest domestic air carrier.
It’s a system that has worked in the carrier’s favor for decades, said Kathleen Bangs, a former commercial airline pilot and spokesperson for FlightAware.
She said the “unique” carrier has a larger percentage of short-haul or short-to-medium domestic flights, unlike other airlines operating on the hub-and-spoke route system.
“They’ve got so many short legs in there, if there’s anything like this tremendous weather system that almost covered the entire country at one time, they’re gonna take a hit,” Bangs said.
Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air uses point-to-point system, as well as many international airlines like Ryanair and easyJet.
Some union leaders have urged for a change in how the system operates all-around.
“The fact is this is not the same airline that Herb Kelleher built where planes went point-to-point,” Randy Barnes, president of TWU Local 555, said in a statement. “We are now experiencing the same problems as the more traditional airlines.”
Bangs said the problems Southwest Airlines is facing go beyond the point-to-point system, calling it a “domino effect” of bad weather, a busy holiday season and operational issues.
“In a situation like this, it’s like 52 pickup with a deck of cards,” Bangs said. “Everything got reshuffled.”
