Southwest Flight Operations for Week of April 23, 2018

Last Tuesday, Southwest shared our plan to voluntarily accelerate inspections of CFM engine fan blades throughout our entire Boeing 737-700/-800 Fleet. We are on track to inspect all CFM engine fan blades on the -700s and -800s within 30 days of our proactive inspection program initiated on Tuesday, April 17, 2018.

This week, we will continue working to minimize flight disruptions by performing inspections overnight while aircraft are not flying and utilizing spare aircraft during the day, when available. We anticipate minimal delays or cancellations each day this week due to the inspections.

As a point of reference, last week’s inspections affected less than one percent of our 4,000 scheduled flights each day. We expect approximately one to two percent of our flights to be affected over the coming days as we complete the voluntary, accelerated inspections.

Customers on affected flights will be notified of any changes to their travel plans through proactive updates. As always, Customers are encouraged to check their flight status on Southwest.com.
Finally, since our operational plans entail multiple aircraft entering and exiting scheduled service during the ongoing inspection period, we are not able to provide real-time, continuous updates on total flight disruptions. Again, we are working directly with impacted Customers on the minimal flight changes this week as we work diligently to ensure the Safety of our fleet.

Source Southwest / Edited By Airline Adviser 04/24/18