The Trump administration dropped a lawsuit against Southwest Airlines over its allegedly chronic flight delays.
In March, Reuters reported that President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) was in talks with the airline regarding the lawsuit, which was initiated by the Department of Transportation (DOT) under then-President Joe Biden.
According to the same report, Southwest Airlines had until May 30 to respond to the lawsuit, but the DOJ moved to drop the case ahead of that date.
“We appreciate the DOT’s decision to abandon its lawsuit against Southwest, which we believe is the correct result in this case,” a Southwest spokesperson told Fox Business.
The DOT filed the lawsuit in January during the final days of the Biden administration, accusing the airline of “illegally operating multiple chronically delayed flights and disrupting passengers’ travel,” according to a DOT statement.
The Southwest spokesperson said that the two flights at the core of the Biden administration’s lawsuit occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, which presented difficulties.
“The two flights at issue occurred years ago when the industry faced unprecedented challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic and were delayed due to issues outside of Southwest’s control in numerous cases. Since the pandemic, we have made significant investments in our operation, which in 2024 provided our customers with best-in-class operational reliability,” the Southwest spokesperson told FOX Business.
The two flights the lawsuit focused on were one between Chicago Midway International Airport and Oakland, California, and another between Baltimore and Cleveland.
According to a statement from the Biden DOT, 180 passengers were impacted by the disruptions between April and August 2022.
“Each flight was chronically delayed for five straight months,” the Biden DOT wrote.
It also included a complaint that the airline was engaging in “unfair, deceptive and anticompetitive” practices through its alleged use of inaccurate departure and arrival times.
Then-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg emphasized in a statement the need for airlines to ensure they provide travelers with accurate departure and arrival times.
The Transportation Department now says that the lawsuit “should have never been brought forward. Southwest has remedied the underlying issues and USDOT will work with them fairly, not sue them for political gain,” according to a statement to FOX Business from a DOT spokesperson.
The Justice Department declined to comment.
