Southwest Airlines faces growing federal scrutiny after Christmas cancellations

The federal government is zeroing in on Southwest Airlines after it canceled thousands of flights over the Christmas holidays, stranding tens of thousands of travelers.

Southwest’s problems can’t completely be blamed on winter storms. While other airlines had some weather-related cancellations, Southwest shut down more than 15,000 flights over the holidays and likely won’t resume normal operations until the new year.

Southwest is only operating around one-third of its flights in order to clear a backlog.