North Texas’ hometown carriers Southwest Airlines and American Airlines were forced to cancel flights Monday, as the fallout from the killing of a powerful Mexican cartel leader and a powerful blizzard pummeling the Northeast U.S. upended travel plans across the country.
Southwest, the dominant carrier at Dallas Love Field Airport, told The Dallas Morning News in an email that the airline would have no flights to Puerto Vallarta on Monday. The airline was scheduled to have eight Puerto Vallarta flights, four in each direction, on Monday, according to scheduling data from Diio by Cirium.
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Southwest operates flights to Puerto Vallarta from other markets it serves, but does not have flights between Dallas and Puerto Vallarta. The carrier cannot fly internationally from Love Field due to the remnants of a law passed in 1979.
American, which operates its central hub at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, told The News in an email that it had canceled its flight operations to PVR and would be operating a “reduced schedule” at Guadalajara International Airport.
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The airline had three flights originally scheduled from DFW Airport to Puerto Vallarta International Airport, according to Diio by Cirium.
American said it issued a travel alert to allow affected customers to rebook their flights without change fees. Southwest is also offering flexibility for customers scheduled to travel to Puerto Vallarta.
Airline operations to Puerto Vallarta and Guadalara were first disrupted Sunday after the Mexican Army killed the leader of a powerful cartel during an operation to capture him.
Civil unrest appeared poised to continue Monday, after Mexico’s security secretary said 25 national guard members had been killed in separate attacks following the killing of the cartel leader.
Separately, U.S. airlines were also experiencing widespread disruptions as heavy snowfall and powerful winds descended upon the region. By 10:20 a.m. delays had topped more than 13,000, and cancellations had reached more than 5,000 across the country, according to flight tracking site FlightAware.
American canceled more than 100 flights at New York’s JFK International Airport, according to FlightAware. The airline also had more than 200 cancellations at its Philadelphia International Airport hub, FlightAware showed.
American and Southwest canceled more than 100 flights combined at Boston Logan International Airport and at LaGuardia Airport, according to FlightAware data.
American’s rivals, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, had also combined to cancel more than 1,200 flights nationwide, according to FlightAware data.