(AOF) – The airline Southwest Airlines had to cancel nearly 3,000 flights yesterday and delayed others due to a storm affecting the United States. The US Department of Transportation said it was concerned about Southwest’s “unacceptable” rate of cancellations and delays, as well as reports of a lack of prompt customer service. Southwest apologized for the disruptions, saying the airline is fully staffed for the holidays, and 23 of its 25 major airports were affected by the storm.
“After several consecutive days of extreme winter weather across our network, the continuing difficulties are having a significant and unacceptable impact on our customers and employees,” the airline said in a statement.
Southwest Airlines added that it was working “to urgently address the large-scale disruption by rebalancing the company and repositioning crews and our fleet to better serve everyone planning to travel with us.”
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The end of a duopoly?
For several decades, the American Boeing and the European Airbus have shared 99% of the world market for airliners with more than 110 seats. This market weighs more than 100 billion dollars per year. However, this duopoly seems to be weakened in 2022 for several reasons. First, for the first time, two medium-haul single-aisle aircraft, the Chinese Comac’s C919 and the Russian Irkut’s MC-21, are about to enter service. Added to this is the Boeing 737 MAX crisis. With the cessation of deliveries of this aircraft between 2019 and 2021, the production balance has been broken. In 2021 Boeing posted 340 deliveries, with Airbus remaining well ahead with 611.