A Southwest airplane and baggage carts at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Worldwide Airport (ATL) in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., on Monday, Dec. 27, 2021.
Elijah Nouvelage | Bloomberg | Getty Photographs
The Trump administration mentioned it is going to forgive the final $11 million of a civil nice towards Southwest Airways that stems from the service’s 2022 vacation meltdown that stranded some 2 million passengers after almost 17,000 flights have been canceled.
The Transportation Division underneath the Biden administration in late 2023 fined the Dallas-based airline $140 million, although the company then credited the airline with all however $35 million of that quantity due to its compensation to prospects.
In an order filed Friday, the Transportation Division cited Southwest’s greater than $1 billion investments in its know-how and operation for the reason that vacation meltdown as cause for the extra credit score. Southwest was attributable to make the final fee subsequent month.
“Southwest Airways is grateful to [Transportation] Secretary [Sean] Duffy and the DOT Crew for recognizing Southwest’s important investments in modernizing our operations,” Southwest mentioned Saturday. “Over the past two years, Southwest efficiently accomplished an operational turnaround that instantly advantages our Prospects with business main on-time efficiency and proportion of accomplished flights with out cancellations.”
