The federal authorities sued Southwest Airways on Wednesday, accusing the airline of harming passengers touring on two routes suffering from continued delays in 2022.
In a lawsuit, the Division of Transportation mentioned it was looking for greater than $2.1 million in civil penalties for flights between airports in Chicago and Oakland, Calif., in addition to Baltimore and Cleveland, which had had been chronically delayed for 5 months that yr.
“Airways have a authorized obligation to make sure that their flight schedules present vacationers with practical departure and arrival instances,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg mentioned in an announcement. “Right now’s motion sends a message to all airways that the Division is ready to take authorized motion to implement passenger protections. »
Carriers are prohibited from working unrealistic flight schedules, which the Division of Transportation considers an unfair, misleading and anti-competitive observe. A “chronically delayed” flight is outlined as one which operates not less than 10 instances per 30 days and is delayed by not less than half-hour greater than half the time.
In an announcement, Southwest mentioned it was “disillusioned” that the division selected to pursue prison prices over the flights that passed off greater than two years in the past. The airline mentioned it has operated 20 million flights because the Division of Transportation adopted its coverage in opposition to chronically delayed flights greater than a decade in the past, with none additional violations.
“Any assertion that these two flights signify an unrealistic schedule is solely not credible when in comparison with our efficiency over the previous 15 years,” Southwest mentioned.
Final yr, Southwest canceled lower than 1% of its flights, however greater than 22% arrived not less than quarter-hour later than scheduled. according to Cirium, an aviation data provider. Delta Air Traces, United Airways, Alaska Airways and American Airways all skilled fewer such delays.
The lawsuit was filed in america District Courtroom for the Northern District of California. In it, the federal government says a flight from Southwest Chicago to Oakland arrived late on 19 of 25 journeys in April 2022, with delays averaging greater than an hour. The fixed delays continued till August of that yr, averaging an hour or extra. On one other flight, between Baltimore and Cleveland, common delay instances reached as much as 96 minutes per 30 days throughout the identical interval. In an announcement, the ministry mentioned the southwest, moderately than unhealthy climate or poor air site visitors management, was guilty for greater than 90 % of the delays.
“Delaying these chronically delayed flights disregarded shoppers’ want for dependable details about a flight’s precise arrival time and harmed hundreds of passengers touring on these flights Southwest by disrupting their journey or different plans,” the division mentioned within the lawsuit. .
The federal government mentioned Southwest violated federal guidelines 58 instances as of August 2022 after 4 months of constant delays. Every violation is punishable by a civil penalty of as much as $37,377, or greater than $2.1 million in complete, in accordance with the swimsuit.
The Transportation Division additionally mentioned Wednesday that it had penalized Frontier Airways for chronically delayed flights, fining it $650,000. Half of this quantity was paid to the Treasury and the remaining is predicted to be forgiven if the airline not has chronically delayed flights within the subsequent three years.
This month, the division ordered JetBlue Airways to pay a $2 million fine for failing to cope with equally delayed flights over a interval of greater than a yr ending in November 2023, with half of the cash returned to passengers affected by the delays.
