DOT sues Southwest, fines Frontier Airlines over chronic flight delays

Source: Axios

10 hours ago


Southwest Airlines is being sued and Frontier Airlines fined over chronic flight delays by the Department of Transportation, the DOT announced Wednesday.

Why it matters: Wednesday's announcement by the outgoing Biden administration's Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg, comes days after the DOT fined JetBlue $2 million for chronic flight delays — the first time such a penalty had been imposed on an airline.

What we're watching: When asked for comment Wednesday evening on whether Southwest would petition the incoming Trump administration to withdraw the lawsuit, company spokesperson Lynn Lunsford said the airline "has kept an open dialogue with DOT and continues to invite the agency to engage in discussions about a reasonable settlement."

Driving the news: The U.S. Government and Buttigieg are seeking maximum penalties against Southwest for allegedly illegally operating multiple chronically delayed flights, per the lawsuit that was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Wednesday.

DOT alleges an investigation found that Southwest operated two "chronically delayed" services between April and August 2022 that resulted in 180 flight disruptions for passengers.

Each flight involving the trips Chicago Midway International Airport and Oakland, Calif, and between Baltimore, Md. and Cleveland, Ohio, was chronically delayed for five straight months, per the suit.