Southwest hit by record DOT fine
Southwest Airlines was slapped with an industry record fine of up to $1.6 million, imposed by the Transportation Department for tarmac delays which occurred early last year.
The fine relates to delays of 16 aircraft during winter storm Hercules at Chicago Midway airport in January 2014.
This is the heaviest fine yet imposed on a commercial airline under a law introduced in 2009 limiting the time passengers should stay onboard an aircraft when delays occur.
"Airline passengers have rights, and the department’s tarmac delay rules are meant to prevent passengers from being stuck on an aircraft on the ground for hours on end," said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.
We have aggressively enforced, and will continue to aggressively enforce, our tarmac delay rule to ensure carriers have adequate resources to minimize passengers’ exposure to lengthy tarmac delays."
The airline expressed ‘disappointment’ with the judgment and ‘acted reasonably to prevent the delays.’
Furthermore, it paid out compensation to delayed passengers of $269,000 and added more staff at Midway costing an additional $2.4 million per year, the company said.
"Southwest conducted an extensive internal review of the events," said Southwest COO Mike Van de Ven.
"Based upon our findings, we made significant investments in our operation to prevent recurrences, including enhancements to our policies and procedures, staffing and airfield monitoring equipment."
This is the first time Southwest has been fined by the DOT for tarmac delays.
The airline will have to pay just $600,000 up front under the terms of the ruling.
It has been credited with $431,000 which it has since spent to upgrade aircraft monitoring equipment at the airport and for $269,000 paid out to passengers in compensation.
The remaining $300,000 will have to be paid by Southwest if it violates the tarmac rule again within a year.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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