The Trump administration's Department of Transportation has waived Southwest Airlines' final $11 million payment of a $140 million civil penalty levied by Biden's DOT in 2023 for the airline's holiday operational disruptions in 2022.
Southwest initially was to pay the U.S. government $35 million over a three-year period, with the $105 million balance of the fine covered by credits and offsets. The carrier made two $12 million payments each on Feb. 5, 2024, and on Jan. 31, 2025.
However, rather than collecting the final $11 million payment on Jan. 31, 2026, the DOT is providing Southwest with a credit in that amount "for significantly improving its on-time performance and completion factor through its $112.4 million investment in its Network Operations Control."
The DOT said that "this approach is in the public interest as it incentivizes airlines to invest in improving their operations and resiliency, which benefits consumers directly."
"Southwest Airlines is grateful to Secretary [Sean] Duffy and the DOT team for recognizing Southwest's significant investments in modernizing our operations," the carrier said in a statement. "During the last two years, Southwest successfully completed an operational turnaround that directly benefits our customers."
Source: Business Travel News