Southwest Airlines Co.’s stock
LUV,
was down 2% midmorning Tuesday, after the Federal Aviation Administration said the carrier had paused departures of its flights across the U.S. The agency later updated its statement to the following: “Southwest Airlines pause on departures has been fully canceled. Earlier this morning, Southwest requested that FAA pause Southwest departures due to an internal technical issue at Southwest.” The airline was hit hard in December when a severe winter storm caused more chaos than at its rivals when a crew-scheduling system was unable to keep up, as the AP reported. The airline wound up canceling 16,700 flights in late December. The airline said the breakdown cost it about $800 million in lost revenue in the fourth quarter and up to $350 million more early this year.
