Sept. 28 (UPI) — Southwest Airlines is set to lose $100 million in revenue in the third quarter from this year’s series of devastating earthquakes and hurricanes, documents show.
Filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Dallas-based airline said it had to cancel approximately 5,000 flights during the current quarter because of “impacts from the natural disasters” in the Caribbean and United States.
Hurricanes Irma and Maria have caused substantial damage this month.
Southwest still hasn’t restored full service to Caribbean islands like Puerto Rico due to major equipment damage. With generators as the only source of power, relief flights are making limited use of the runways to deliver emergency supplies.
Although Puerto Rico isn’t a major hub for Southwest, the Miami and Houston airports typically see plenty of traffic and were shut down for days.
Several airlines including American and JetBlue have also had to cancel flights. United Airlines released information that it had to cancel 7,400 flights because of Hurricane Harvey.
Southwest noted that each seat flown a mile will increase 3 percent to 4 percent in the current quarter over the same period last year.
Shares of Southwest went up 41 cents to $56.29 in midday trading Thursday.
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