Southwest Airlines flights cancelled at Hobby Airport amid maintenance pinch, weather issues

Dallas-based Southwest Airlines is the dominant carrier at Houston's Hobby Airport. Dallas-based Southwest Airlines is the dominant carrier at Houston's Hobby Airport. Photo: Bill Montgomery / Houston Chronicle Photo: Bill Montgomery / Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Southwest Airlines flights cancelled at Hobby Airport amid maintenance pinch, weather issues 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Nine Southwest Airlines flights out of Houston's Hobby Airport have been canceled as the airline deals with mechanical issues on hundreds of planes in its fleet.

The cancellations could be related to both the mechanical issues and a winter storm spreading its way across the Midwest to the east, according to a Southwest spokesperson. The airline said it "proactively" canceled more than 350 flights across the Midwest, Ohio Valley and the Northeast between late Tuesday and Wednesday morning.

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According to fly2houston.com, the cancelled flights in Houston were scheduled to depart for Baltimore (two flights), Dallas, Oakland, Washington D.C., Austin, San Antonio and New York (two flights).

You can check exact departure times here.

Southwest said on Tuesday that there is "no common theme" among the mechanical issues, according to Bloomberg. Planes nationwide have been taken out of service at more than twice the daily average of 20, Bloomberg reported.

The airline said Wednesday morning that they working to utilize their mechanics as much as they can.

"The airline continues to operate under a staffing protocol enacted late last week to maximize availability of mechanics across all scheduled shifts to address maintenance items so that we may safely return aircraft to service," the spokesperson said.

According to USA Today, the airline canceled 191 flights and delayed 858 flights on Tuesday alone. A spokesman told the news outlet that half of those cancellations were related to maintenance issues.

USA Today said the delays are related to a long-running labor dispute at the Dallas-based airline.

Southwest Chief Operating Officer Mike Van de Ven issued a statement on Tuesday suggesting that the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, an independent union representing aircraft maintenance technicians, is the reason for the disruption, USA Today reported. The union has been in contract talks with Southwest since 2012, according to USA Today.

"We apologize to our customers who have been inconvenienced by this disruption,'' Van de Ven said.

Julian Gill is a digital reporter in Houston. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, houstonchronicle.com. | julian.gill@chron.com | NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here.