Southwest working on updates, upgrades to technology -CIO

Southwest Airlines is working on a series of updates and upgrades to its technology to avoid a repeat of the operational disruption the airline suffered in late December, a top executive said on Monday. CIO Lauren Woods told Reuters that the carrier is working on improvements to its crew scheduling technology, and looking to upgrade flight management system as well as buy "right" de-icing equipment, among other things. The Dallas-based carrier's technology has been in focus ever since it suffered an operational meltdown that resulted in almost 17,000 flight cancellations around the Christmas holiday last year, disrupting travel plans for two million customers. Southwest has been attributing the breakdown in service to a "historic" winter storm, both in size and scale, which caused frozen jet bridges and icy aircraft engines.It, however, has acknowledged that technology issues were a factor and plans to spend $1.3b this year on technology investments, upgrades, and system maintenance. Woods, who was named Southwest's new CIO about two weeks back, has been tasked with managing the investments. "December was a moment in time in our 51-year history and we're going to get through this," She said. "We're going to continue to make really smart business decisions including our technology investment."<br/>