Southwest cancels thousands more flights; U.S. government vows scrutiny

Southwest Airlines (LUV.N) came under fire from the U.S. government on Tuesday after it canceled thousands of flights, and its boss, Bob Jordan, said the low-cost carrier needed to upgrade its legacy airline systems, Qazet.az reports.

U.S. airlines have canceled thousands of flights as a massive winter storm swept over much of the country before the Christmas holiday weekend, but Southwest's woes have deepened while other airlines have largely recovered.

The cancellations drew criticism from Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for what he termed a "meltdown." He told CNN that the company's union leaders had told him they had been "raising the alarm" about technology issues at Southwest systems for some time.

Jordan apologized to customers and employees in a video message and said: "Clearly we need to double down on our already existing plans to upgrade systems for these extreme circumstances so that we never again face what happening right now."