Southwest Airlines Grounds 115 Boeing 737 Jets Over Weight Issue

Southwest Airlines grounded 115of its Boeing 737-800 jets late Wednesday because of a weight discrepancy on planes.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we have temporarily ceased flying the respective aircraft to enter the correct weights of the aircraft into the system and reset the program,” the company said Thursday morning.

The problem has to do with aircraft weight and balance data sent to dispatch teams, according to a memo sent to employees late Thursday and confirmed by the company the next morning.

“In the meantime, this will cause some delays and/or cancellations; however, we do anticipate the impact to our operation to be minimal,” Dallas-based Southwest Airlines said in a statement.

Southwest originally thought the issue affected 130 planes but revised that number down to 115 overnight.

The FAA fined Dallas-based Southwest Airlines $3.92 million earlier this year for miscalculating aircraft weights, something the carrier blamed on “data processing issues.” Southwest has also been in trouble with the FAA for the way it estimates the weight for aircraft being loaded onto planes.

The weight of the planes is a key data point for pilots to control aircraft and to estimate fuel needed for routes.

Southwest has been flying the 737-800 “Next Generation” variation of Boeing’s jet since 2012. The plane carries 175 passengers.

According to Planespotter.net, about 207 of the carrier’s 735 jet fleet is made up of the 737-800 variation.

Southwest canceled 14 flights Thursday morning, less than 1% of all of its flights, according to Flightaware.com.

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