Southwest Airlines stonewalled FAA safety investigations, whistleblowers say

Federal investigators said Wednesday that Dallas-based Southwest Airlines stonewalled FAA investigations and pushed to close inquiries quickly even though it and union officials resisted handing over information. The report released Wednesday raises serious concerns about the relationship between the FAA and Southwest Airlines, which has been the subject of past investigations into the purchase of foreign airplanes and drew scrutiny for its involvement in Boeing’s development of the 737 Max aircraft. The U.S. Office of Special Counsel sent the report to President Joe Biden’s desk Tuesday, the agency said, citing four whistleblowers who say the FAA “knowingly permitted SWA to engage in unsafe and improper actions that compromised the safety of the flying public.” The report points widespread blame for how the FAA handles complaints and investigations into Southwest, including how mechanics are assigned work and investigations into pilot safety lapses and the relationship between Southwest executives and FAA officials.

The FAA and Southwest Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Office of Special Counsel report. In the report, investigators also accuse FAA of failing to oversee Southwest’s “pattern of assigning mechanics more work than can be reasonably completed and then pressuring them to sign off on work that was not completed or completed by someone else.” The investigation confirmed that senior leadership at the Federal Aviation Administration “mismanaged and interfered” with the arm overseeing Southwest Airlines between 2018 and 2020 “in the face of SWA’s intimidation tactics.” “The FAA took the Office of Special Counsel’s concerns seriously and acted quickly to adopt the recommendations that resulted from the investigation,” the FAA said in a statement. “The agency continues to work with the appropriate parties to resolve any outstanding issues.” The report seems to confirm the results of an investigation into Southwest Airlines released in February 2020 by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General. In that report, one FAA official said “The safety culture at Southwest Airlines consists of using ‘diversion, distraction, and power’ to get what the company wants.” In the new report made public Wednesday, the Special Counsel’s whistleblowers pointed out “mishandled” FAA responses into a February 2019 accident at Bradley International Airport in Connecticut where a Southwest jet suffered damage to both wings while attempting to land.