In the wake of a computer outage and operational meltdown last month that led to the cancellation or delay of thousands of flights on Southwest Airlines, the carrier's pilots union said it took a unanimous vote of no confidence in the company's two top executives.
The Southwest Airlines Pilots’ Association said Monday it took a vote of no confidence in Southwest CEO Gary Kelly and COO Mike Van de Ven, and said the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association took a similar vote.
“As tenured employees and frontline leaders of this company, we can no longer sit idly by and watch poor decision after poor decision deeply affect our customers and Southwest Airlines,” the pilots union’s president Jon Weaks said in a written statement. He cited an “inability to prioritize the expenditure of record-breaking revenues toward investments in critically outdated IT infrastructure and flight operations,” which he said led to an operational failure at Chicago’s Midway Airport in 2014 and the meltdown in July.
But Southwest management took a different view, saying the pilots union’s move is aimed at gaining leverage in contract negotiations, and was not about the company’s management or its IT infrastructure.
Southwest senior vice president of labor relations Randy Babbitt said in a written statement that the pilots union aimed “to pressure the company to meet its demands.” He also said the company “is routinely recognized” for achievements “financially, operationally and culturally.”
Dallas-based Southwest is the second-largest carrier at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
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