Southwest Airlines today revised its fourth quarter forecast to net loss from "strong profit" after a technological meltdown forced it to cancel thousands of flights around Christmas and New Year's Eve.
Southwest Airlines led flight cancellations across carriers during the last two weeks of December, as a massive winter storm swept across the eastern part of the US.
The largest US domestic carrier typically has an aggressive schedule that connects vast swathes of the country.
It scrapped more than 16,000 flights during that period, according to airline-tracking website FlightAware.
Southwest relies on a point-to-point service instead of operating out of large hubs that made it difficult for crews to reassemble as adverse weather left them stranded at different parts of the country, disrupting operations.
The net loss will largely be due to an estimated pre-tax negative impact of $725m to $825m, the company said in a regulatory filing.
