Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) CEO Bob Jordan wants to assure travelers that the wave of flight delays and cancelations that plagued the company during the 2022 holiday season won’t repeat itself this year.
Southwest canceled nearly 17,000 flights last year during the high-travel Christmas and New Year’s period due to severe weather across the country. Thousands of passengers were stranded, while pilots and flight attendants were unable to staff subsequent flights.
“It will never happen again,” Jordan said at an event Thursday at the Wings Club in New York.
The CEO said the company has upgraded its technology and stocked up on de-icing equipment to minimize winter delays. He also pointed to the carrier’s handling of a heavy snowfall at the Denver airport in October as an example of improvement.
That doesn’t mean there won’t be any delays, however.
“Winter will not be perfect,” Jordan said.
Shares of Southwest traded 2.1% higher Thursday to $29.76.