The US Department of Transportation (DOT) has waived Southwest Airline's final payment of $11 million from a fine related to scheduling chaos during winter 2022.
In December that year, the airline cancelled thousands of flights during Winter Storm Elliott. Southwest's systems were left exposed and exacerbated the cancellations, with the outdated scheduling system unable to cope with the disruption.
Following this, the DOT imposed a civil penalty of $140 million on Southwest — the highest penalty ever issued by the department — for “failing to provide prompt or proper refunds, prompt flight status notifications, and adequate customer service assistance”.
The majority of the fine was held for passenger compensation, while $35 million of the fine was to be paid to the US Treasury.
Southwest paid two $12 million instalments — one in February 2024 and the second in January this year — but the final instalment, which was due January 31, 2026, has been waived.
The DOT said this was due to Southwest “significantly improving its on-time performance and completion factor through its $112.4 million investment in its network operations control (NOC)”.
The department added that it believes this move “incentivizes airlines to invest in improving their operations and resiliency”, adding that this would benefit passengers directly.
“Documentation provided to the Department by Southwest demonstrates that the carrier invested over $1bn in its operations to improve both performance and reliability since the operational failures over the 2022 Christmas holiday and into the New Year,” the DOT added.