Southwest AirlinesThe airline cancelled more than 1000 flights on Sunday, representing 27% of the schedule. This was due to disruptions caused by air traffic control problems and poor weather that affected thousands of customers’ travel plans.

We had a significant impact on the Florida airports [Friday]Evening after an FAA-imposed program for air traffic management was put into effect due to severe weather conditions, there were many cancellations,” Alan Kasher (who oversees daily flight operations) told staff on Saturday.

Federal Aviation Administration (which oversees air traffic) didn’t respond immediately. Southwest has apologized for the long waits in customer service.

Southwest stated in Saturday’s statement that it hopes to “return to near normal operations” as they move into Sunday.

“We are working hard behind the scenes to minimize challenges and fully recover the operation as we take care of displaced Crews and Customers as quickly as possible,” the company said.

Flight-tracking website FlightAware reports that 808 flights were cancelled on Saturday by Dallas-based Airline. American AirlinesThe, which has a major hub in Miami, cancelled 63 mainline flight cancellations, representing 2% of the airline’s operation. Fort Lauderdale is also affected. Spirit AirlinesIt cancelled 32 flights or 4% of its scheduled flight schedule.

Southwest had hundreds of cancellations this summer due to staffing issues. These were the results. airline trimmed its scheduleTo avoid any further disruptions, the airline reopened its operations after the summer. Another airline faced shortages of workers, after thousands took leave or boughtouts at peak pandemic. Travel demand came back faster than anticipated this summer.

Southwest has not yet commented on the possibility that staffing shortages may have contributed to cancellations.

This airline is having a difficult time hiring new workers. CNBC’s Bob Jordan, the new airline CEO, stated last month that it was prepared to cancel flights for spring break season because of insufficient staff.

Social media speculations fueled by the disparity in Southwest’s operations and those of other airlines led to employees calling sick.

Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (the union representing Southwest Airlines pilots) stated that they “can say with confidence” that their Pilots do not participate in official or informal job activities.

The statement stated, “Our Pilots are going to continue to overthrow SWA management’s poor planning and any other operational challenges outside of their control, and will remain the most productive pilots in the world.”

On Saturday, the union stated that the recent company announcement about its compliance with the Biden administration’s requirement that federal contractors require staff Covid vaccinations has caused distractions to aviators.

“Make no mistake about it – due to months of staffing issues and inefficient scheduling practices we have been operating at a higher than normal operational risk,” the union’s safety committee told members in a post on Saturday.

The report of pilot fatigue which requires them to stop flying is triple the historical norms.

It stated that “All these difficulties have caused an additional distraction in the cockpit.” The Company’s announcement of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate this week only makes matters worse.”