The U.S. Department of Transportation on May 16 filed a one-sentence "notice of voluntary dismissal" for the DOT's January lawsuit against Southwest Airlines for chronically delayed flights.
The lame-duck Biden administration filed the suit in the Northern District of California, just days before vacating the White House. It cited two routes with chronic delays between April and August 2022.
"We appreciate the DOT's decision to abandon its lawsuit against Southwest, which we believe is the correct result in this case," Southwest said in a statement. "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."
Source: Business Travel News