On Mar 6, 5:55 pm, "
wrote:
Actually, they are already leveling a fine (unjustly) against
Southwest. From today's WSJ:

The Federal Aviation Administration, imposing the largest financial
punishment against an airline in about two decades, proposed a $10.2
million civil penalty against Southwest Airlines Co. for flying
passengers in 46 of its planes without complying with mandatory
inspections to check for possible structural cracks.

...

According to the agency, the airline flew hundreds of thousands of
passengers in the planes from June 2006 to March 2007 without
complying with a September 2004 safety directive to inspect for
fuselage cracks. After advising the FAA of its mistake, the airline
received verbal approval from the local FAA Dallas office to keep
operating the aircraft, and the FAA said in a press release that the
carrier flew an additional 1,451 flights before completing the
inspections.
...
So, Southwest realized it was in error and had not properly inspected
for ADs. It informs the FAA who say go ahead and keep flying, so
Southwest follows the verbal directions of the FAA. Then the FAA
comes back and slaps them with a $10MM fine. ...

My interpretation is that they were fined 10 M$ for the violations
they reported to the FAA, not for continuing to fly with the
verbal approval that followed.

--

FF