More aviation woes in the US in the coming days news

Southwest Airlines expects to be able to operate only about a third of its flights in the coming days. “In all likelihood, we’re going to have another tough day tomorrow,” CEO Bob Jordan said Monday night. He called the massive cancellations “the biggest I’ve ever seen.”

A winter storm has been battering large parts of the US and Canada since Wednesday evening, with snow reported in the Midwest, Buffalo and New York. Tens of thousands of Americans saw massive power outages, impassable roads and thousands of flight cancellations over their Christmas weekend. Dozens were also killed.

On Monday, Southwest, based in Dallas, Texas, canceled nearly 3,000 flights, or 67 percent of its offerings, accounting for nearly three-quarters of all U.S. cancellations, while most other flights suffered delays. That led to criticism from the U.S. Department of Transportation, which said it had an “unacceptable” amount of canceled flights and that Southwest’s service would be investigated. By comparison, Delta Air Lines canceled only 8 percent of its flights on Monday.

While Delta uses hubs to route its connections, Southwest sticks to direct flights. Additionally, cities with significant Southwest operations such as Dallas, Phoenix (Arizona), and Las Vegas (Nevada) have many problems. The low-cost airline operating out of Buffalo, a city hit hard by the storm, is the largest airline.

(Re) See also: Historic Winter Storm Elliott Kills Dozens in US