Pilots’ union seeks ouster of Southwest CEO after IT outage

DALLAS — Pilots' union leaders are asking Southwest to replace CEO Gary Kelly because of the technology outage that caused the airline to cancel or delay thousands of flights in July.

The union says Southwest is spending too much on buying back shares and not enough on updating its technology.

The union said Monday that its board voted 20-0 to ask that Kelly and Chief Operating Officer Mike Van de Ven be removed.

Southwest Airlines Co. blamed a faulty router for a July 20 outage that briefly grounded all flights. Southwest struggled for several more days with unusually high cancelations and delays.

An email seeking comment from the airline was not immediately returned.

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