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October 1, 2021 – 3:42 – Find out what is clicking on Foxnews.com.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, took to Twitter on Sunday night to speculate on Southwest Airlines’ decision to cancel more than 1,000 flights just days after his pilots union asked a court to block the the company’s new COVID-19 vaccination mandate.
The airline blamed the cancellations on “disruptive weather” and air traffic control issues. Some Twitter users were wary of the timing of the disruption, including the Texas Republican.
“Joe Biden’s illegal vaccine takes a job!” Cruz tweeted. “Suddenly, we are short of pilots and air traffic controllers. “
The airline announced last week that due to new rules from the Biden administration, its employees must be vaccinated against COVID-19 and have until December 8 to be fully vaccinated. Workers are allowed to request medical or religious exemptions.
Southwest said it had to mandate vaccines due to the Biden administration’s new rules requiring companies with federal contracts to have staff vaccinated. Southwest’s work for the government includes piloting the military in an emergency and transporting mail for the US Postal Service.
Last week, competitors American Airlines, Alaska Airlines and JetBlue told their staff they needed to get the vaccine. United Airlines, in August, was the first major airline to do so and has since said more than 97% of its employees have been vaccinated. United has also said it will put staff who cannot get vaccinated for medical or religious reasons on unpaid leave until COVID-19 rates drop.
The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association on Friday challenged the company’s tenure in federal court in Dallas, saying the policy “illegally imposes new terms of employment and the new policy threatens to terminate any pilot who is not fully vaccinated. ‘by December 8, 2021, “according to Bloomberg.
The union issued a press release on Saturday saying it was aware of “operational difficulties” affecting the airline, but “we can say with confidence that our pilots are not participating in any official or unofficial action.”
A Southwest spokeswoman told CNBC in an email that the COVID-19 warrant was the cause of the delay was “inaccurate.”
“There are a lot of rumors and unfounded speculation going around,” she said.
The airline did not comment on Cruz’s tweet, but reported to Fox News about the previous statement about weather challenges and air traffic control issues.
“We continued to work diligently throughout the weekend to reset our operations with a focus on repositioning aircraft and crews to take care of our customers. And we are working diligently to welcome our customers as quickly as possible, and we are grateful for their patience. We are giving customers additional flexibility to explore self-service reservation change options on Southwest.com, where they can get updates on the status of their trip, ”the statement said.
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According to FlightAware, a website that tracks cancellations and delays, Southwest canceled 1,018 flights and 597 flights were delayed on Sunday alone. On Saturday, the airline canceled 808 flights and 1,187 flights were delayed.
Fox News’ Tyler O’Neil and The Associated Press contributed to this report
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