U.S. Sues Southwest to Recover Civil Penalty Tied to Aircraft Maintenance
Typically Airlines, FAA Negotiate to Reduce Penalties, But Sides Couldn’t Agree in This Case
The Justice Department sued Southwest Airlines Co. in an effort to recover a $12 million civil penalty proposed by aviation regulators in July related to allegations of improper maintenance on some of the airline’s jets.
The Federal Aviation Administration said that a Southwest contractor performed improper repairs on 44 of its Boeing Co. 737 jetliners, and that the airline flew the planes in violation of safety regulations on more than 30,000 flights. The proposed penalty is the second-largest in the FAA’s history.
The lawsuit, filed on Monday in U.S. District Court in Seattle, gives Southwest 21 days to answer the complaint. The Justice Department is acting on the FAA’s behalf in the dispute.
Southwest, the nation’s No. 4 airline by traffic, on Tuesday said it disputes the FAA’s allegations. “We look forward to the opportunity to vigorously defend Southwest’s record in a court of law,” the Dallas-based discount carrier said in a statement.
Such proposed civil penalties from the FAA are rare, but most airlines over the years have received at least a few for various maintenance shortcomings, record-keeping problems and troubles with drug and alcohol testing of employees. The largest penalty, $24.2 million, was proposed by the FAA in 2010 for alleged improper aircraft repairs by American Airlines. A $10.2 million penalty against Southwest in 2008 ranks as the third-largest.
Typically, airlines negotiate with the FAA to reduce the penalties. Southwest in August 2010 settled the 2008 allegations by agreeing to pay the government $7.5 million.
But after the FAA notified Southwest of the alleged regulatory violations in the latest episode this past July, “the partners were not able to reach a compromise on the proposed civil penalties,” the Justice Department said in its complaint.
The main allegations in the latest case involve work going back to 2006 by maintenance contractor Aviation Technical Services Inc. to prevent fuselage cracking on 44 Southwest planes. After the work was done, the FAA in 2009 put Southwest on notice that the planes weren’t in compliance with approved airworthiness directives or other FAA-approved methods of complying.
Last summer, Southwest said the FAA letter included repair issues that “were addressed several years ago. None of the items affect aircraft currently being operated by Southwest.” Southwest operates a fleet of more than 600 737s, most of them newer versions than the 737-300s that were the subject of the repairs in the past decade.
Aviation Technical Services, in a statement last summer, said it “settled with the FAA over the matter last year with no fault found.” The Everett, Wash., company said it was “fully cooperating with the FAA and continuing to partner with Southwest.” The FAA approved later repairs.
In the lawsuit, the Justice Department said that while Aviation Technical Services performed the maintenance, “Southwest is ultimately responsible for ensuring that the maintenance was performed properly and that the aircraft were airworthy upon return to service.” Instead, even after the FAA alerted Southwest to its concerns about maintenance violations in April 2009, the carrier continued to operate the noncompliant aircraft until October 2009, the government said in its complaint.
Source: WSJ – U.S. Sues Southwest: Aircraft Maintenance, Legal Case
