Travel

Southwest Airlines System Outage Delays, Cancels Chicago Flights

Thirty-four flights had been delayed and 10 had been canceled in Chicago as of about 2 p.m.

The issue comes a day after a similar computer problem forced Southwest to cancel or delay flights on Monday.
The issue comes a day after a similar computer problem forced Southwest to cancel or delay flights on Monday. (Shutterstock)

CHICAGO — A Southwest Airlines computer outage led to hundreds of flight delays and dozens of cancellations across the country Tuesday, including in Chicago.

According to FlightAware.com, which tracks flights across the country, between Chicago's Midway and O'Hare international airports, 34 flights had been delayed and 10 had been canceled as of about 2 p.m.

The company confirmed the issues on Twitter Tuesday afternoon. O'Hare retweeted Southwest's message, but has yet to release its own statement.

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CNN reported another issue with the airline's third-party weather data provider led to a similar wave of cancellations and delays on Monday.

"We are beginning to resume flight operations after our third-party weather data provider experienced intermittent performance issues earlier this evening preventing transmission of weather information that is required to safely operate our aircraft," Southwest said in a statement late Monday. "While Southwest Teams and the vendor worked to restore connectivity, we implemented a ground stop to protect the Safety of our Crews and Customers."

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It's not clear if Tuesday's problems are related to Monday's delays or a different matter altogether.

This story is developing. Check back for updates.


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