Scores of Southwest Airlines travelers faced delays or cancellations Sunday because of emergency inspections after the mid-air explosion of an engine on one of the airline’s 737s last week.
Southwest said about 40 of its 4,000 scheduled flights were canceled because of the emergency fan blade inspections. Meanwhile, the flight-tracking website FlightAware showed that about 414 Southwest flights, or about 10 percent, had been delayed Sunday.
Southwest did not immediately say what proportion of the delays was tied to the engine inspections, or whether another problem was contributing to the widespread disruptions. In a statement, it only acknowledged the 40 cancellations.
“When we announced the accelerated engine fan blade inspection program on Tuesday night, we said there would be some impact to the operation,” Southwest’s communications team said in a statement. “We have minimized flight disruptions this past week through actions such as proactive aircraft routings to cover open trips and utilizing spare aircraft, when available.”
After the Tuesday accident that killed 43-year-old passenger Jennifer Riordan when she was partially sucked out of a broken window, Southwest announced accelerated, ultrasonic checks of fan blades on the CFM56 engines.