DOT Waives $11M Fine as Southwest’s $1B Fix Shows Results

The US Department of Transportation has officially forgiven the final $11 million portion of a $140 million penalty issued to Southwest Airlines for its major 2022 holiday disruption.

Southwest had already paid $24 million in cash and more than $100 million in travel credits, and the waiver reflects the airline’s progress in improving its on-time performance.

The 2022 incident unfolded during Christmas week, when a powerful winter storm and outdated crew-management software triggered widespread failures. Southwest canceled over 16,900 flights and stranded more than 2 million passengers.

In response, DOT issued the largest enforcement action in aviation history, requiring a mix of cash payments, a future passenger compensation fund, more than $100 million in mandated technology upgrades, and additional customer-care protections.

To address these problems, Southwest invested more than $1 billion in new operational systems, including a redesigned Network Operations Control platform intended to handle extreme weather and large-scale disruptions.

After meeting reliability benchmarks for four straight quarters, DOT concluded the airline had made significant progress and decided to waive the final portion of the fine as an incentive for continued improvement.

This decision represents the encouragement of long-term operational fixes rather than relying solely on cash penalties.

At the same time, the FAA has opened an investigation into airlines that may have failed to comply with a required flight-reduction order issued during the closing days of the US government shutdown. Regulators asked airlines to cut schedules by 6 percent to stabilize the system, yet carriers collectively canceled only 0.25 percent of flights.

Southwest, United, and Delta are among those being examined for potential noncompliance.

Photo by Nick Morales on Unsplash