SEATTLE — Alaska Airlines accounted for 88 percent of all the canceled flights in and out of SeaTac Airport Monday and Tuesday, despite the recent weather event not having a major impact.
Airline tracking site flightaware.com shows 87 cancelled flights during the time period in question. Alaska accounted for 77 of those flights, including all but one cancellation Tuesday.
KIRO 7 got a spokeswoman for Alaska Airlines on the phone to explain after the company only initially issued a vague statement. She said outbound flights were cancelled before the weather moved in out of an abundance of caution, a move the company stands behind. The spokeswoman said the problem was not delaying or canceling more inbound flights, which created a traffic jam at the airport.
The spokeswoman for Alaska also said “several” deicing trucks broke down, and deicing at the gate-- a newer procedure at SeaTac-- did not go smoothly. She said there will be more supervision and experienced workers ready for deicing the next time there is snow, which may be Thursday.
Alaska Airlines and the Mechanics Union both denied an ongoing labor dispute directly affected staffing levels during the weather event.
All of this comes as the U.S. Department of Justice approved Alaska’s proposed purchase of California-based Virgin America for $2.6 billion.
Read more about Tuesday’s flight cancelations
Cox Media Group
