A Southwest Airlines pilot was arrested and removed from the cockpit at an airport in Georgia after allegedly failing a sobriety test before a flight to Chicago, police said.

Southwest Airlines confirmed the pilot had been removed from duty and apologized to customers whose travel plans were disrupted.

CHICAGO - A 52-year-old pilot for Southwest Airlines was arrested Wednesday morning at Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport for allegedly showing up to work intoxicated. David Allsop, a New Hampshire resident, was taken into custody around 7 a.m. by the Chatham County Sheriff's Office and charged with driving under the influence.

A Southwest Airlines pilot was removed from the cockpit ahead of a Wednesday flight from Georgia to Chicago and was booked on a charge of driving under the influence, a source familiar with the incident told CBS News.

David Allsop, 52, is charged with driving under the influence, according to Chatham County Sheriff's office jail records.

SAVANNAH, Ga. (7News) — A Southwest Airlines pilot was arrested in Savannah, Georgia for intoxication moments before a Wednesday morning flight to Chicago, airport police told ABC News.

A Southwest Airlines flight bound for Chicago was delayed for multiple hours after a pilot was arrested and charged with DUI at an airport in Georgia, police said.

The pilot allegedly smelled of alcohol and was removed by airport police before he flew Southwest Flight 3772 to Chicago from Savannah, Georgia, a source told CBS News. Photos shared online show cops removing him from the cockpit of the plane. Further details of what led to his arrest have not been released.

The U.S. Department of Transportation sued Southwest Airlines Wednesday, alleging it illegally operates flights that are persistently delayed, harming passengers and fair competition in the airline industry.

Southwest Airlines is pausing corporate hiring and promotions, suspending most of its summer internships and going without some employee team-building events that date back to the 1980s in order to cut costs and improve margins, CEO Bob Jordan told staff.

A Southwest Airlines pilot was arrested shortly before ... Allsop was apprehended just before Southwest Flight 3772, bound for Chicago, was about to leave Georgia. It departed shortly before ...

The pilot, David Allsop, 52, was arrested at Savannah Hilton Head Airport Wednesday morning and has been removed from duty. The flight was delayed about five hours.