Southwest Grounds Planes After FAA Probe

In Wake Of Missed Inspections, Airline Grounds 43 Planes, Affecting 8% Of Fleet

(AP)  Southwest Airlines Co. canceled flights Wednesday and temporarily grounded 43 planes to examine if they were sound enough to carry passengers, the latest twist in the low-cost carrier's saga of missed safety inspections and civil penalties.

The groundings affected about 8 percent of Southwest's fleet, and came as the airline faces a $10.2 million civil penalty for continuing to fly nearly 50 planes that hadn't been inspected for cracks in their fuselages.

Southwest shares fell more than 9 percent before closing down 7.3 percent.

Since the Federal Aviation Administration announced the penalty last week, Southwest has endured a steady drip of bad publicity, which is unusual for the nation's most consistently profitable carrier and one that has never had an accident that killed passengers or crew members.

On Wednesday, word filtered out that the airline had taken 38 planes out of service, along with five others that were already in hangars undergoing routine maintenance. That's about 8 percent of Southwest's fleet.

Spokeswoman Linda Rutherford said Southwest took the action after getting clarification from manufacturer Boeing Co. on Tuesday night about the type of inspection - visual or magnetic, or a combination of both - needed for areas around the windows on some older Boeing 737-300 and 737-500 jets.

By late Wednesday afternoon, Rutherford said, 25 planes had undergone the 90-minute inspection at maintenance bases in Dallas, Houston, Chicago and Phoenix and returned to service.

Rutherford said the remainder of the 38 taken off tarmacs were expected to be back flying by Wednesday night. A 44th plane covered by the Boeing instructions had already been retired, she said.

Southwest had canceled 139 flights by late Wednesday afternoon, or about 4 percent of its scheduled flights for the day, according to Flightstats.com, which tracks airline operations.

The company said it had 520 Boeing 737 jets at the end of last year. Nearly 200 of them are older models, the Boeing 737-300, that were supposed to undergo extra inspections for cracks in the fuselage.

The FAA said Acting Administrator Robert A. Sturgell met Wednesday with Southwest Chief Executive Gary Kelly, who gave a briefing on the steps the airline is taking to comply with inspection orders. The FAA is conducting its own review.

Sturgell has acknowledged that the FAA should have grounded the jets last year, when Southwest itself reported that it had inadvertently missed inspections of the fuselages on its all-Boeing fleet. He has said that "at least one FAA inspector looked the other way."

Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., chairman of a House committee looking into the actions of both the airline and the FAA, said this week's groundings and fresh inspections raised serious questions about the FAA's follow-up to the missed examinations last year.

Beyond Wednesday's canceled flights - airline officials said they expected to operate a normal schedule on Thursday - it was unclear what impact the unfolding events might have on Southwest's ticket sales and reputation.

Ted Marzilli, an executive at consumer-surveying firm BrandIndex, said Southwest's ratings have held up despite nearly a week's worth of bad publicity. But Wednesday's news of airplanes being grounded and flights canceled could change things for the worse, he said.

"At first this was something that happened a year ago, there were no injuries, and it was being corrected," Marzilli said. "This new story prolongs the news cycle and has the potential to do more serious impact to the Southwest brand."

But Paul Biederman, a former chief economist at TWA who now teaches at New York University, said Southwest appeared to be taking charge by announcing earlier this week that it was suspending three employees. He predicted the fallout would be short-lived.

"There wasn't an accident. Nobody got hurt or killed," he said. "It'll go away unless something else happens, like we find out cracks weren't repaired."

The $10.2 million penalty is the largest the FAA has ever imposed on a carrier. Most of the amount was related to charges that Southwest for several days last year continued to put passengers on planes that it knew had not been properly inspected.

Southwest has said it will appeal. CEO Kelly, who earlier announced an internal investigation into the missed inspections, said Wednesday that Southwest has a clean record over its 37-year history.

"We have been a safe company. I believe we are a safe company," he said. "I am committed to making sure we become safer still."

Southwest shares fell 91 cents to end at $11.49 in trading on Wednesday after they earlier fell to a 52-week low of $8.87.

[jtormey3]

You can ALWAYS tell the Southwest employee aero-sycophants and FAA tools, just from their posts to a message-board, even when they seek to remain veiled in the cloak of anonymity. LAUGH at them. Laugh at their transparency. But also pray for their souls.
John J. Tormey III, Esq.
Quiet Rockland

[mainemade]

"You''''re now free to move about the country"...yeah on a wing and a prayer.

''''Wanna stay in the Sky? Then kiss Southwest goodbye'''' would be a better slogan.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by Snapper4298 at 06:56 PM : Mar 12, 2008


There is nothing FREE in this country...
Love the slogan!!

[rushlimpdrug]

A 44th plane covered by the Boeing instructions had already been retired, she said. .
. . . . . Nearly 200 of them are older models, the Boeing 737-300, that were supposed to undergo extra inspections for cracks in the fuselage. . .


So we get strip-searched and they go through our baggage, check our I.D. to board us on uninspected planes.

Interesting.

Something to think about when you send your child, parent, relative off on Southwest Airlines.

[mssmoody]

Why don''t we ever here about the inspectors getting fines?. The airlines are always the ones that get the fines then our fares go up and we wonder why. I''d like to see more of the inspectors and persons in charge of making sure that the inspections are done properly. I drive a truck I inspect my truck if my truck isn''t inspected correctly then I get fined not the company I''m signed on with. Get your prioritys in check. Linda Moody

[jtormey3]

Quiet Rockland of Rockland County, New York is enraged over the callous criminal disregard for safety and human life demonstrated by Southwest Airlines (NYSE: %u201CLUV%u201D) and the FAA. We today call for: (1) a nationwide traveler and consumer boycott of Southwest, and (2) a federal criminal investigation of Southwest and %u201Cfailed regulator%u201D FAA to be spear-headed by the United States Attorney General and a special prosecutor.

Quiet Rockland asks and encourages those Southwest employees tired of subscribing to their company%u2019s tombstone culture, to leave their sinking airship now to find other and better employ at a responsible airline that actually acknowledges the dignity of the individual human traveler. We further ask every American consumer to now act in solidarity - cancel all flights and other business with Southwest %u2013 boycott the airline which we today re-name %u201CAir Kevorkian%u201D - and just say %u201CNo%u201D to Southwest, to FAA, and to the greed of the aeromercantile complex that continually and habitually puts profits over people%u2019s lives.

And, as to Southwest stockholders? Vote your conscience.

John J. Tormey III, Esq.
Quiet Rockland

[tibu987]

For so many years Southwest has built themselves a sterling reputation and to have it marred in such a stupid way tells me that some heads must roll.
Whoever made the decision not to inspect the planes
should be fired immediately.
Simple as that.

[adasher1]

I recently flew with Southwest and had no problems. If people keep complaining, we will have to go down to Mexico to catch flights.

posted by bxjohnson at 02:59 PM : Mar 12, 2008

Where do you think the airlines have their preventitive work done? Do you think they do it in America? No.....they fly them across the country line and have it done down there. Still feel safe flying? I do not.....

[alphaa10-2009]

Taylor2124 said, "All you whiny libs just need to **** and die..."
---
The whining is yours. If you remove the plugs from your ears, you will understand people are shouting-mad about lax, careless management, even with lives at stake. That about describes Bush at Katrina, or in Iraq, but I don''t want to rub it in.

Meanwhile, both lib and GOP fly on the same airliners. If you fly airlines and really want to live another year, don''t fail to join the protest. Or, ****.

[j-whitman]

If all they have is 737''s why did they ground just 38 ??

[gheemaster38]

I recently flew with Southwest and had no problems. If people keep complaining, we will have to go down to Mexico to catch flights.

posted by bxjohnson at 02:59 PM : Mar 12, 2008

LOL! Yea and there will be no one to check your bags because they are all in America illegally, working at "Jobs we lazy Americans" wont do..