Southwest Pulls 38 737s From Service, Cancels 4% Of Flights

摘要

Southwest's internal investigation of its maintenance procedures prompted the airline to make a snap decision to withdraw 38 Boeing 737s from its active fleet yesterday for what it described as precautionary inspections. The airline planned to complete the inspections by the end of the day, but withdrawing the 38 aircraft caused it to cancel 4% of its scheduled flights. Another five aircraft already undergoing maintenance were also included in the inspections. Southwest was able to prevent more cancellations by shuffling aircraft on the remainder of its schedule, and the carrier claimed its on-time rate remained above 90%.