U.S. senators press Southwest to answer questions on holiday meltdown

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of 15 U.S. senators on Friday demanded Southwest Airlines Chief Executive Bob Jordan answer questions about the low-cost carrier's holiday meltdown that led to nearly 16,000 flight cancellations.

"The airline must examine the causes of this disaster and ensure it never happens again," said the letter led by Democratic Senators Ed Markey and Richard Blumenthal asking for answers about the software it uses for crew scheduling and why did the company "fail to invest funds to modernize these systems to ensure that it could effectively coordinate crew and flight schedules after major storms and during major travel periods?"

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)