西南航空公司表示，它计划在周五恢复“正常运营，中断最小化”，此前几天的混乱导致该公司取消了数千个航班，留下许多航班滞留的乘客寻找替代交通工具。
该航空公司在一份声明中说新闻稿它“对我们在重新调整船员、他们的时间表和我们的舰队方面取得的进展感到鼓舞。”
西南航空表示，截至周四，该公司的运营只完成了计划的三分之一。根据航班跟踪网站FlightAware的数据，该航空公司周四取消了超过2，300个航班，占其航班总数的58%。
FlightAware说，周三，该公司取消了2，500多个航班，占当天航班总数的62%。
该公司在一份新闻稿中说:“我们知道，即使是我们最深切的歉意——对我们的客户、我们的员工以及所有受到此次中断影响的人——也只能到此为止。”
在繁忙的假日旅游季节，一场巨大的风暴带来了降雪、大风和零度以下的温度，减缓了航空旅行，导致数万次航班取消和延误。
据飞行专家、西南航空公司官员和工会领袖称，虽然暴风雪导致西南航空网络中进出主要机场的航班停飞，但历史上取消航班的规模源于该公司独特复杂的航班协调模式及其过时的内部调度系统。
该航空公司的首席执行官鲍勃·乔丹(Bob Jordan)周二在一份近三分钟的视频声明中表示，他对顾客和员工“真的很抱歉”。
“我们的网络非常复杂，航空公司的运营依赖于所有环节，尤其是飞机和机组人员仍在前往他们计划去的地方，”乔丹说。
他补充说，“在繁忙的假期周末，我们试图尽可能多地运行我们的完整计划，我们达到了一个决定点，以大幅减少我们的飞行来赶上。”
Southwest Airlines announces plan to return to ‘normal operations’ by Friday
Southwest Airlines said it plans to return to "normal operations with minimal disruptions" Friday, after days of chaos that saw the company cancel thousands of its flights, leaving many passengers stranded and seeking alternative transportation.
The airline said in a news release that it's "encouraged by the progress we've made to realign crew, their schedules and our fleet."
Southwest said its operating one-third of its schedule as of Thursday. According to flight tracking website FlightAware, the airline canceled more than 2,300, or 58%, of its flights on Thursday.
On Wednesday, the company canceled over 2,500 flights, which amounted to 62% of the day's total, FlightAware said.
"We know even our deepest apologies -- to our customers, to our employees, and to all affected through this disruption -- only go so far," the company said in a press release.
A huge storm that brought snow, heavy winds and below-freezing temperatures over the busy holiday travel season slowed down air travel, resulting in the cancellation and delay of tens of thousands of flights.
While the snowstorm grounded flights in and out of key airports in Southwest's network, the historic scale of cancellations stemmed from the company's uniquely complex flight coordination model and its outdated internal scheduling systems, according to flight experts, Southwest Airlines officials and union leaders.
The airline's CEO, Bob Jordan, said he was "truly sorry" to customers and staff in a nearly three-minute video statement on Tuesday.
"Our network is highly complex and the operation of the airline counts on all the pieces, especially aircraft and crews remaining in motion to where they're planned to go," Jordan said.
He added, "after days of trying to operate as much of our full schedule across the busy holiday weekend, we reached a decision point to significantly reduce our flying to catch up."
