DOT fines Southwest $1.6 million for Midway tarmac delays

Bart Jansen | USA TODAY

Southwest Airlines was penalized up to $1.6 million Thursday for lengthy tarmac delays for 16 aircraft at Chicago's Midway airport in January 2014, the Transportation Department announced.

This was the largest fine yet levied under a 2009 rule prohibiting tarmac delays of more than three hours without allowing passengers to get off the plane, according to the department.

"Airline passengers have rights, and the department's tarmac delay rules are meant to prevent passengers from being stuck on an aircraft on the ground for hours on end," Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said.

Southwest said the delays happened during winter storm Hercules, which delivered heavy snow and subzero temperatures. But the airline said it had never been fined in the past for tarmac delays and continues to make "significant investments" to enhance its operations to avoid lengthy delays in the future.

"While Southwest employees worked tirelessly to get arriving aircraft to gates as quickly as possible, ultimately our efforts fell short in the face of challenging operational conditions," the airline said in a statement. "While we are disappointed that the government would seek additional money, after the enormous penalties imposed on Southwest by Mother Nature during the January 2014 winter storms, we nonetheless appreciate the Department of Transportation giving Southwest credit for the substantial and costly remedial steps the airline voluntarily took before this consent order was issued."

The $1.6 million penalty includes a $600,000 payment to the government and $269,000 in compensation to passengers, according to the seven-page consent decree between the department and airline.

But the agreement also credited $431,000 to Southwest for acquiring and operating better equipment to monitor aircraft position at Midway, and merely threatened an additional $300,000 fine if Southwest violates the tarmac rule again within a year.

The delays occurred Jan. 2, 2014, and Jan. 3, 2014, as Southwest experienced a malfunctioning of its crew scheduling system and a shortage of staff at its Midway hub, according to the department.

Midway became congested with canceled outbound flights as the 16 cited in the fine arrived from 10:15 p.m. to 11:51 p.m., according to Southwest. The arriving flights that ran afoul of the DOT's three-hour limit exceeded that length by as little as 16 minutes on one flight by by up to 60 minutes on others.

The department has issued a total of $5.24 million in fines under 17 orders. The largest previous fines for tarmac delays were for $1.1 in 2012 and $900,000 in 2011.