Photo taken on March 27, 2019 shows Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 Max aircraft parked at the Southern California Logistics Airport, also known as Victorville Airport, in Victorville, California, the United States. (Xinhua/Zhao Hanrong)
Southwest said in a statement on Thursday that it planned to return to its normal schedule on Friday "with minimal disruptions."
NEW YORK, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- After a nightmare week of massive cancellations that left U.S. Southwest Airlines scrambling to repair its reputation, the airline appeared set to finally return to its normal schedule on Friday, U.S. media reported.
As of Friday morning, just 41 of Southwest's flights for the day had been canceled, according to FlightAware, a flight-tracking service.
A small number of cancellations each day is typical; barring any last-minute problems, dozens of cancellations would represent a steep improvement from Thursday, when more than 2,300 flights were canceled, according to a New York Times report.
Southwest said in a statement on Thursday that it planned to return to its normal schedule on Friday "with minimal disruptions."
The debacle started last week when a major winter storm scrambled plans across the United States, forcing many flights to be canceled during one of the year's busiest weeks for travel. While other airlines were able to recover in a day or two, Southwest's problems were only beginning.
On Sunday, Christmas Day, 1,635 Southwest flights were canceled, or 46 percent of its schedule for the day. That number grew to 2,908 on Monday, and stayed above 2,300 per day through Thursday, according to the report. ■
