Southwest faces Senate hearing over holiday travel chaos

Southwest Airlines’ chief operations officer is scheduled to face questions from a Senate panel on Thursday over the carrier’s December meltdown that stranded thousands of passengers over the holidays.

Andrew Watterson plans to apologize for the travel chaos before the Senate Commerce Committee. The president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, Casey Murray, will tell the panel that the carrier ignored warning signs about its operation, according to written testimony reviewed by CNBC.

Southwest has said it canceled more than 16,700 flights between Dec. 21 and Dec. 31. The issues started with severe winter...