Frustrations mount for Southwest Airlines pilots as summer travel picks up
Southwest Airlines pilots on Friday added themselves to the list of disgruntled commercial aviators dealing with labor shortages, cancellations, fatigue and
Southwest Airlines pilots on Friday added themselves to the list of disgruntled commercial aviators dealing with labor shortages, cancellations, fatigue and unpredictable work shifts.
“We’ve been under a lot of stress for the past year,” said Capt. Casey A. Murray, a pilot and president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association.
He said many pilots arrive at work scheduled to fly to one destination only to receive a late reassignment notification instructing them to fly elsewhere, and in many cases, it's a longer flight, which has led pilots feeling fatigued and frustrated.
Airlines under pressure with soaring summer passenger levels and pilot exhaustionJune 16, 202202:35“What is going on, on a day-to-day basis, is a wasteful use of the pilot resources they have,” Murray said, adding, there have been failures in connecting pilots to airplanes, sometimes because of weather events and staffing shortages — and other times, for reasons unknown.
At least 30% of pilots are being reassigned everyday, Murray said. He said Southwest has about 9,600 pilots but declined to say how many more it needs to hire to address the shortage.
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