Southwest Airlines - Order 2025-12-4

The U.S. Department of Transportation (“Department” or “DOT”) is amending Order 2023-12-11 issued on December 15, 2023, Docket DOT-OST-2023-0001. Order 2023-12-11 assessed Southwest Airlines Co. (“Southwest”) a civil penalty of $140 million and required Southwest to pay $35 million to the U.S. Treasury in three installments—two installments of $12 million and one installment of $11 million. Southwest made one $12 million payment on February 5, 2024, and a second $12 million payment on January 31, 2025. The remaining $11 million is due and payable to the U.S. Treasury no later than January 31, 2026. In lieu of a payment of an $11 million civil penalty to the government, this order provides Southwest with an $11 million credit for significantly improving its on-time performance and completion factor1 through its $112.4 million investment in its Network Operations Control (NOC). DOT believes that this approach is in the public interest as it incentivizes airlines to invest in improving their operations and resiliency, which benefits consumers directly. This credit structure allows for the benefits of the airline’s investment to be realized by the public, rather than resulting in a government monetary penalty.