(Added Southwest and Department of Transportation comments) by David Shepardson
The U.S. Department of Transportation told Southwest Airlines LUV.N that a civil penalty was warranted following the airline’s collapse in December, which resulted in the cancellation of 16,700 flights and disruption of flights from 2 million passengers.
Southwest said in a securities filing that the department notified it Friday that the government had determined the airline “failed to provide adequate customer service assistance, timely notifications of flight status and appropriate refunds.” and rapid, and that the assessment of a civil penalty was justified”
The Department of Transportation said the filing was accurate, but declined to comment further.
In December, Southwest Airlines suffered an operational debacle after bad weather, which also affected peers, was compounded by its legacy scheduling system, costing it more than $1 billion.
Southwest said it would not comment further because discussions with the Department of Transportation “are ongoing and part of a process that we are respecting by refraining from any specific comments until we can reach a solution”
The airline added that it “discussed widely our multi-faceted efforts and significant investments to improve the resilience of how we prepare for and operate in irregular conditions.”
Last month, Southwest Chief Executive Robert Jordan said the airline was better prepared to deal with upcoming winter weather thanks to the budget carrier’s “big investments” in capacity improvements defrosting and personnel.
2023-10-30 18:27:40
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