Southwest Airlines maintenance issues affecting Sky Harbor flights
Feb 20, 2019, 8:36 AM
(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)
(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)
PHOENIX — A number of Southwest Airlines flights that were scheduled to move through Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport were canceled Wednesday after the airline reported that it was experiencing maintenance issues that stemmed from a dispute with the carrier’s mechanics union.
Sky Harbor spokeswoman Krishna Patel told KTAR News 92.3 FM that 18 flights — 10 departures and eight arrivals — were canceled as of 8:30 a.m.
The airline said in a statement to KTAR News that it “proactively canceled” more than 350 flights across the Midwest, Ohio Valley, and the Northeast due to weather but said it is also experiencing “higher than normal out of service aircraft.
“The airline continues to operate under a staffing protocol enacted late last week to maximize availability of mechanics across all scheduled shifts to address maintenance items so that we may safely return aircraft to service,” the statement read.
Southwest’s Chief Operating Officer Mike Van de Ven said in a Tuesday statement that the airline has been negotiating with Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association for more than six years and offered its nearly 2,400 mechanics a pay package last fall that they did not approve.
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“We are anxious to reward them, we have been actively engaged in ongoing mediated negotiations since then and we have enhanced our previous contract offer,” the statement read.
“We will be investigating this current disruption and exploring all possible remedies.”
The union said in its own statement Tuesday that the airline was “scapegoating” its technicians and that its “self-declared ‘operational emergency’ to collective bargaining negotiations is simply an attempt to divert attention away from the airline’s safety issues.
“Southwest Airlines’ mechanics are working the overtime demanded of them. But Southwest Airlines has the fewest mechanics to aircraft of any major carrier,” the statement read.
“We will continue to do our job as expert craftsman, for the safety of Southwest’s passengers.”
Patel recommended that travelers check their flight status online or over the phone before arriving at the airport.
The full list of delayed and canceled flights for Sky Harbor can be found here.
KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Madison Spence and Jeremy Foster contributed to this report.
