After conducting an internal investigation, last month Southwest Airlines leaders switched from defending the airline’s maintenance practices to suspending three maintenance employees and grounding a significant number of airplanes to re-inspect them for possible cracks. The FAA issued a statement on March 6 proposing that Southwest Airlines pay a $10.2 million civil penalty for its error. While most civil penalties shrink after the initial proposal, if Southwest did pay the full amount, it would be the highest penalty ever paid to the FAA. The record now stands at $10 million, paid by TAG Aviation in connection with former TAG subsidiary AMI Jet Charter’s charter certificate revocation last year.
In all, Southwest found that 46 of its Boeing 737s had to be inspected per an Airworthiness Directive (AD) that applied to the airplanes. “We found cracks on roughly half a dozen of those aircraft,” said Southwest president Gary Kelly in a statement issued by the airline. Southwest had previously disclosed to the FAA that it missed inspecting a small area required by the AD, according to Kelly, and “the fix was agreed upon with the FAA, and it was executed properly.”
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