Southwest Airlines Cancels Flights, Continues Fuselage Inspections

Southwest Airlines Co. canceled 70 flights Monday as it continued to inspect Boeing 737 planes following the emergency landing on Friday of a jet with a hole in its fuselage.

Spokeswoman Whitney Eichinger said 70 flights systemwide were canceled for Monday out of about 3,400 daily flights. Of 79 older Boeing 737-300 planes that were designated for additional inspections after the Friday incident, 33 had been returned to service, she said.

The discount airline canceled about 600 flights over the weekend as it checked older 737-300 planes for fuselage cracks and fatigue after one of its planes with a gaping hole made an emergency landing in Arizona .

(Reporting by Karen Jacobs, editing by Dave Zimmerman)