No Fees or No MX?

[BILL LUMBERG]

I'm just curious, Why is it anything SWA related (and there has been a lot of them) with MX, the FAA just turns the other cheek and SWA walks away with a slap on the wrist?? I think a pattern is developing, no MX oversight or quality control.

They might not have any "extra fees", but maybe the MX is getting skipped. Labor is the highest cost and the hedges aren't what thy used to be. So how does SWA keep its profits high and costs low?

Ready for the usual Herb defenders to come jump all over me, but it's a question worth asking.....

Talk amongst yourselves.

 

[PreContact]

Was wondering the same thing given what they did to American with their MD-80s last year.

 

[N1atEcon]

Ahhh news flash! Maybe you don't recall the multi million dollar fine we got for the lap joints. It was not pretty!

As for profits:
Low debt to avoid paying interest.
One model of AC. i.e training, parts, mechanics ect.
Efficiency/productivity.
Happy employees that don't call in sick evey other trip.

I could go on my but I have to go play Mario Kart with my Daughter. I am going to nail her with some red seeking turtles.

 

[PreContact]

Yes they did levy a fine but they didn't ground the fleet like they did with AA.

 

[swaforme]

Of the 529 aircraft in our fleet they own outright approx 350. So compared to other airlines our lease payments are extremely low. That is a huge part of why our costs are low.

As for how these deals are negotiated with the FAA. I am certainly not privy to the details of those conversations.

 

[DrewBlows]

Didn't Southwest pay the highest fine ever administered by the FAA? Is that a slap on the wrist?

 

[swaforme]

Correct 10.2 million. We ended up negotiating it down to 7.5 mil.

Southwest Airlines has agreed to pay Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) fines of $7.5 million for safety and maintenance issues. The original fine of $10.2 million - a sum which would have been the largest fine in the agency’s history - was negotiated down after a year of negotiations.
FAA is giving Southwest two years to pay the fine. The discount airline was fined because it flew 46 Boeing 737s on a total of 59,791 flights without making required inspections for possible fuselage cracks.
In a prepared statement, Southwest says “This settlement with the FAA will allow us to focus on safety going forward, rather than issues that are behind us and that have been addressed.”

According to reports, the Southwest-FAA settlement also requires that Southwest maintain 13 safety-related steps or be fined an additional $7.5 million. The additional safety items include allowing FAA inspectors better access to information used for tracking maintenance and engineering activities.

Maybe this new issue came to light via new procedures developed in this agreement with the FAA.

 

[kf4amu]

Why do people dislike Southwest at all? They have one of the highest paid pilot groups in the industry. That helps bring the averages up come contract time.

I'll never be jealous of a successful airline as long as they pay their pilots well.

 

[dispatchguy]

Plus, having heavy checks done in Central America cant hurt either. I wonder where all those unapproved, unblessed parts come from?

 

[Volasl]

Ive never understood how an airline negotiates its fine. It occurs at all of them not just Southwest. The FAA fines them and somehow the airline pays around half usually. Id love to know what is said during that negotiation.