The Federal Aviation Administration announced just after 10:30 a.m. that the airline had requested a pause on departures. Southwest flights had resumed at 11:10 a.m.The airline attributed the grounding of its flights to"data connection issues." The company added that staff worked in a speedy manner to"minimize flight disruptions."
More than 1,800 Southwest flights nationwide were delayed as of Tuesday afternoon, and 11 Southwest flights were canceled, per FlightAware. The airline is facing several investigations over the mass cancellations, including from the Senate. In February, Southwest Chief Operating Officer Andrew Watterson admitted during a Senate hearing that the December fiasco happened because the company"did not have enough winter operations."