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CNN Says Southwest Flew Unsafe Planes

March 6, 2008 at 1:28 PM | by | Comments (5)

And you thought the PR department at Southwest was working overtime after the Nisreen Swedberg kerfuffle. CNN is reporting that the airline flew thousands of passengers on at least 117 planes that federal inspectors said were "not airworthy."

Congressman James Oberstar--the guy who doesn't want a Delta-NWA merger--plans to call a hearing to ask Southwest what the hell it was thinking. He might want to call in the FAA, too, which CNN says ignored the carrier's failure to inspect its own aircraft.

Southwest has next-to-no comment on the report, except to say that its people are preparing for the hearings. They might mention that in its 37-year history the airline has *never* had a crash.

Related Stories:
· Southwest Airlines Flew "Unsafe" Planes [CNN]
· Southwest Airlines coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Wikipedia]

Comments (5)

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Comment from Southwest Airlines

pbb - We have indeed been busy, and I'm sorry if you weren't able to receive a comment from us.  

No one is more passionate about the safety of our Customers and Employees than we are, and it's important for our Customers to know that this situation was never and is not now a safety of flight issue.

Some media reports are suggesting that the FAA plans to fine Southwest, but to date, we have not received any notification or indication from the FAA that that is what they plan to do.

The inspections in question were one of many routine, redundant, and overlapping inspections of our fleet.  And, as the WSJ accurately points out, we discovered the missed inspection ourselves, informed the FAA, and promptly completed the missed inspections in March 2007. The FAA approved our actions and considered the matter closed as of April 2007.

Again, the safety of our Customers, Employees, and aircraft is always our number one concern.  Southwest has an excellent maintenance program, and this experience has helped improve the overall safety of the fleet.  

paula berg on March 6, 2008 at 2:08 PM #Permalink

Comment from Southwest Airlines

pbb - We have indeed been busy, and I'm sorry if you weren't able to obtain a comment from us.  

No one is more passionate about the safety of our Customers and Employees than we are, and it's important for our Customers to know that this situation was never and is not now a safety of flight issue.

Some media reports are suggesting that the FAA plans to fine Southwest, but to date, we have not received any notification or indication from the FAA that that is what they plan to do.

The inspections in question were one of many routine, redundant, and overlapping inspections of our fleet.  And, as the WSJ accurately points out, we discovered the missed inspection ourselves, informed the FAA, and promptly completed the missed inspections in March 2007. The FAA approved our actions and considered the matter closed as of April 2007.

Again, the safety of our Customers, Employees, and aircraft is always our number one concern.  Southwest has an excellent maintenance program, and this experience has helped improve the overall safety of the fleet.  

Paula Berg
Southwest Airlines

paula berg on March 6, 2008 at 2:11 PM #Permalink

Wow.

Southwest responds to another "kerfuffle." Nice 10 cent word.  I look forward to the YouTube response (or at least seeing more of the girl who did the Girls of Southwest response).

Anyways, all this news comes just hours after my wife and I book more Southwest flights.  So if you could please get your hands on some IDs of the planes in question, that'd be swell.  Thanks.

rdmcgeorge on March 6, 2008 at 4:13 PM #Permalink

More Comment from Southwest

You can read more about Southwest's side of the story on the airline's blog.
pbb on March 7, 2008 at 9:44 AM #Permalink

I love the first comment to their blog post.

"I don't believe you

Posted by: Jack | March 6, 2008 at 10:48 pm"

That Jack is a straightforward fellow.

rdmcgeorge on March 7, 2008 at 9:55 AM #Permalink

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