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

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.

The pilot was later charged with driving under the influence, records from the local sheriff's office show.

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.

Authorities say an airline pilot who seemed to smell like alcohol was making pre-flight checks in the cockpit when police arrested him on a DUI charge.

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

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.

A Southwest Airlines flight was delayed multiple hours this week after a pilot was reportedly arrested and charged with DUI before takeoff in Georgia.

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.

Southwest Airlines pilot David Paul Allsorp, 52, of New Hampshire, was taken into custody at Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport (SAV) on Wednesday, January 15th, and booked into a local jail on charges of driving under the influence.

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.