The Trump administration dropped a lawsuit in opposition to Southwest Airways over its allegedly persistent flight delays.
In March, Reuters reported that President Donald Trump’s Division of Justice (DOJ) was in talks with the airline relating to the lawsuit, which was initiated by the Division of Transportation (DOT) underneath then-President Joe Biden.
In accordance with the identical report, Southwest Airways had till Might 30 to reply to the lawsuit, however the DOJ moved to drop the case forward of that date.
“We appreciate the DOT’s decision to abandon its lawsuit against Southwest, which we believe is the correct result in this case,” a Southwest spokesperson informed Fox Enterprise.
The DOT filed the lawsuit in January in the course of the remaining days of the Biden administration, accusing the airline of “illegally operating multiple chronically delayed flights and disrupting passengers’ travel,” in accordance with a DOT assertion.
The Southwest spokesperson stated that the 2 flights on the core of the Biden administration’s lawsuit occurred in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, which offered difficulties.
“The two flights at issue occurred years ago when the industry faced unprecedented challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic and were delayed due to issues outside of Southwest’s control in numerous cases. Since the pandemic, we have made significant investments in our operation, which in 2024 provided our customers with best-in-class operational reliability,” the Southwest spokesperson informed FOX Enterprise.
The 2 flights the lawsuit centered on have been one between Chicago Halfway Worldwide Airport and Oakland, California, and one other between Baltimore and Cleveland.
In accordance with an announcement from the Biden DOT, 180 passengers have been impacted by the disruptions between April and August 2022.
“Each flight was chronically delayed for five straight months,” the Biden DOT wrote.
It additionally included a grievance that the airline was partaking in “unfair, deceptive and anticompetitive” practices by means of its alleged use of inaccurate departure and arrival occasions.
Then-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg emphasised in an announcement the necessity for airways to make sure they supply vacationers with correct departure and arrival occasions.
The Transportation Division now says that the lawsuit “should have never been brought forward. Southwest has remedied the underlying issues and USDOT will work with them fairly, not sue them for political gain,” in accordance with an announcement to FOX Enterprise from a DOT spokesperson.
The Justice Division declined to remark.
