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Southwest says it expects normal operations to resume Friday

Ashlyn Harmon of New Orleans searches for her Southwest Airlines bags amongst hundreds of others at Midway International Airport as Southwest continued to cancel thousands of flights across the country Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2022, in Chicago. Harmon said her family's initial Southwest flight was cancelled on Christmas so they rebooked on American Airlines, although Southwest still shipped their bags to Midway. "We rebooked ourselves," she said. "I figure we can deal with refunds and all of that when we get back." She was searching for her own bag, which contains medication for her young son. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
Ashlyn Harmon of New Orleans searches for her Southwest Airlines bags amongst hundreds of others at Midway International Airport as Southwest continued to cancel thousands of flights across the country Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2022, in Chicago. Harmon said her family's initial Southwest flight was cancelled on Christmas so they rebooked on American Airlines, although Southwest still shipped their bags to Midway. "We rebooked ourselves," she said. "I figure we can deal with refunds and all of that when we get back." She was searching for her own bag, which contains medication for her young son. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

By DAVID KOENIG / AP Airlines Writer 5 min read

DALLAS (AP) — Southwest Airlines said it expects to return to normal operations Friday after slashing about two-thirds of its schedule in recent days, including canceling another 2,350 flights Thursday.

Airline executives told employees that crew scheduling this week— a major cause of the meltdown — has been fixed.

Southwest is struggling to recover after being overwhelmed by a winter storm that left hundreds of pilots and flight attendants stranded out of position to operate flights.

It is likely that far more than 1 million passengers have been affected. Southwest has canceled more than 13,000 flights since its meltdown began on Dec. 22. Its planes have 143 to 175 seats and were likely nearly fully booked around the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

Other airlines are back to full strength. Delta, American and United together canceled around 30 flights by late morning, according to tracker FlightAware.