Sky Harbor woes:

Southwest Airlines labor dispute, winter weather affecting Phoenix flights

Weather, labor dispute delaying and canceling flights.

If you’re traveling this week, check your flight status before you head to the airport.

Winter weather across the country combined with a labor dispute between Southwest Airlines and its mechanics is causing dozens of delays and cancellations across the country, including at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

Between Tuesday Feb. 19, and Wednesday, Feb. 20, there were 131 delayed and 47 canceled flights at the Phoenix airport.

The two biggest airlines were the most affected. American Airlines had 28 delays on Tuesday and was up to 29 delays by 11:30 a.m. Wednesday. Southwest Airlines had 21 delays on Tuesday and 27 so far on Wednesday.

Southwest also was dealing with a significant number of cancellations. It had to cancel 17 flights on Tuesday and 18 on Wednesday.

A Southwest spokeswoman said the airline proactively canceled more than 350 flights across the Midwest, Ohio Valley and Northeast due to weather. The airline is offering those travelers the opportunity to change their flights without extra fees.

While many of the delays and cancellations are due to weather, Southwest also is dealing with a large number of out-of-service airplanes that a Southwest executive attributed to work disruptions by the mechanics union.

Southwest Airlines declares operational emergency

Southwest Airlines declared an operational emergency after seeing an increase in the number of planes needing service. An executive for the airline attributed the increase to an ongoing dispute with the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association.

The two sides have been at odds over staffing ratios and outsourcing of maintenance work.

In a press release issued on Southwest’s website, Chief Operating Officer Mike Van de Ven said that just after the airline’s last negotiations with the union, the airline noticed an increase in out-of-service aircraft at four maintenance locations. He said the union had a “history of work disruptions.”

“We are committed to operating a safe fleet, and every report is investigated, which is why we issued a notice to require an ‘all hands’ response to get out-of-service aircraft back into the fleet serving our customers,” Van de Ven wrote.

The “all hands” declaration required all personnel to report to work to get aircraft returned to service unless they had a doctor’s note excusing them.

Van de Ven also said Southwest has filed two lawsuits against the union.

Union disputes Southwest’s operational emergency

The AMFA took issue with Van de Ven’s statement that the airline has the smallest mechanics-to-aircraft ratio of any major carrier. It attributed Southwest’s response to retribution for a recent CBS News report about the safety culture at Southwest.

“For Southwest’s leadership to connect the airline’s self-declared ‘operational emergency’ to collective bargaining negotiations is simply an attempt to divert attention away from the airline’s safety issues,” AMFA National Director Bret Oestreich wrote in a statement issued to the Arizona Republic.

“Safety is, and always will be, our number one priority,” he wrote.

He said mechanics continue to report for their shifts and perform the overtime required of them.

“We will continue to do our job as expert craftsman, for the safety of Southwest’s passengers,” Oestreich wrote.

Have a travel-related story you’d like us to investigate? You can connect with Melissa through email at melissa. yeager@azcentral.com. You can also follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

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