Market Data 
The US Department of Transportation filed a lawsuit against Southwest Airlines, accusing the carrier of selling flights with unrealistic schedules that operated chronically late.
According to the DOT, Southwest Airlines caused 90% of the delays on flights between Chicago Midway and Oakland, California, and between Baltimore and Cleveland, Ohio, during a five-month period in 2022.
The agency also announced a $650,000 fine to be paid by Frontier Airlines for similarly behind-schedule operations. Earlier this month, JetBlue was hit with a $2 million fine for chronic delays.
DOT did not immediately respond to questions about why Southwest was sued while the other airlines were fined.
In a statement, a Southwest spokesperson said the airline is “disappointed that the DOT chose to file a lawsuit over two flights that occurred more than two years ago. Any claim that these two flights represent an unrealistic schedule is simply not credible when compared with our performance over the past 15 years.”
The spokesperson added that Southwest has operated more than 20 million flights without other infractions since the DOT’s chronically delayed flight policy was enacted in 2009.
This story is developing. Check back for updates.
