After coming under scrutiny following an engine explosion that killed one person and forced an emergency landing last week, Southwest Airlines is voluntarily implementing an accelerated engine fan blade inspection program.
As a result of the program, 40 flights around the country, including in San Antonio, have been canceled.
On Friday night, the Federal Aviation Administration issued an Emergency Airworthiness Directive but Southwest says that Sunday’s cancelations are not related to that, but rather are a voluntary effort by the company to make sure all of their planes are safe to fly.
“We have minimized flight disruptions this past week through actions such as proactive aircraft routings to cover open trips and utilizing spare aircraft, when available,” a Southwest representative said in an email. “Today, we only canceled about 40 flights due to fan blade inspections out of a planned schedule of almost 4,000 flights. The cancellations are minimal (roughly 1 percent of scheduled flights).”
Southwest is encouraging customers to check Southwest.com for any questions about their flight status.
