By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Southwest Airways Chief Working Officer Andrew Watterson will testify on Feb. 9 earlier than the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee after a vacation meltdown compelled the finances provider to cancel hundreds of flights.

The listening to titled “Strengthening Airline Operations and Shopper Protections” will even embrace Southwest Airways (NYSE:) Pilots Affiliation President Captain Casey Murray, Sharon Pinkerton, a senior official with Airways for America, an trade group, and Paul Hudson (NYSE:), who heads Flyers’ Rights, a passenger advocacy group.

The listening to will assessment causes and impacts of latest air journey disruptions together with the Southwest December vacation operational woes that resulted in additional than 16,000 flight cancellations.

Southwest Chief Govt Bob Jordan has repeatedly apologized for the mass cancellations and mentioned the provider is taking a look at all choices to forestall a repeat.

On the listening to, Southwest mentioned in an announcement, Watterson will “use the chance to clarify how we’ve taken actions to make issues proper for our clients since Southwest’s late December disruption, in addition to what we’re doing to mitigate the danger of it taking place once more.”

However pilot’s union head Murray informed Reuters in December that “Southwest is utilizing outdated know-how and processes, actually from the ’90s, that may’t sustain with the community complexity as we speak.”

Watterson mentioned final month that the airline’s crew scheduling software program didn’t cease working, “however a mix of our processes and the know-how could not sustain with the tempo of cancellations on the top of the climate disruption.”

Southwest is dealing with a lawsuit from shareholders and regulatory scrutiny over its flight scheduling and dealing with of greater than 16,700 cancellations that disrupted journey plans for about 2 million clients throughout a busy vacation season.

The U.S. Transportation Division (USDOT) is investigating whether or not Southwest engaged in “unrealistic scheduling of flights” in December. USDOT has forwarded hundreds of complaints it obtained to Southwest.

In a Reuters interview this week, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg declined to element what investigative steps USDOT had taken within the Southwest probe however mentioned “we’re actually taking a look at a number of issues directly.”

Buttigieg mentioned his speedy focus is “ensuring the passengers who acquired caught up on this are made entire.”