The fierce winter storm has forced cancellation of thousands of flights in the United States in recent days, leaving travellers stranded in the holiday season. Over 15,000 thousand flights have been cancelled in the country, thanks to heavy snow squalls, strong wind and sub-zero temperatures. Southwest Airlines had the most significant number of cancellation, prompting the US government authorities to call it “unacceptable”, news agency Reuters reported.
Southwest Airlines cancelled 2,886 flights or 70 per cent of its scheduled flights on Monday, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. The airline has also cancelled 60 per cent, or over 2,400, of its Tuesday flights.
"USDOT is concerned by Southwest Airlines’ disproportionate and unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays as well as the failure to properly support customers experiencing a cancellation or delay," Reuters quoted the statement from the US Transportation Department.
It said it would "closely examine whether cancellations were controllable and whether Southwest is complying with its customer service plan as well as all other pertinent DOT (department of transport) rules."
The majority of US flight cancellations have so far been at Chicago O'Hare or Denver, both international hubs.
Southwest Airlines, American Airlines and United Airlines had already taken steps to issue weather waivers to allow passengers to change their flights without fees.
The extreme cold wave conditions have been caused by a phenomenon called a "bomb cyclone". This event occurs when there is a collision between a warm and a cold one air mass, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.
(With inputs from Reuters, AFP)
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