Friends - Many of you are writing to us concerned about today's news reports regarding the safety and inspections of Southwest Airlines' aircraft.
Let me assure you, first and foremost, that no one is more passionate about the safety of our Customers and Employees than we are, and it is important for you all to know that the situation being reported in the media was never and is not now a safety of flight issue.
The FAA has issued what is called a "letter of penalty" to Southwest Airlines regarding one of many routine, redundant, and overlapping inspections of our fleet. The specific inspection in question involves an extremely small area in one of many overlapping inspections designed to detect early signs of skin cracking on our aircraft.
In March 2007, Southwest Airlines discovered a missed inspection area, disclosed the information to the FAA, and promptly reinspected all of our potentially affected aircraft.
The FAA approved our actions at that time and considered the matter closed as of April 2007.
The Boeing Company, which manufactures all of our aircraft, also supported our aggressive compliance plan, and has issued a statement confirming that we acted responsibly and, more importantly, that the safety of our fleet was not compromised.
The FAA has concerns about the inspection process, which we are willing and eager to work with them to resolve. Receipt of the FAA's letter of penalty gives us the opportunity to present both our case and the facts, which we feel will support our actions taken back in March 2007.
We assure you that this issue never compromised the safety of our fleet. Southwest has an excellent maintenance program, with more Boeing 737 aircraft experience than any carrier in the world. Safety is, has always been, and will always will be our number one priority.
Comments
I don't believe you
How is waiting up to 80 cycles after being aware of non-compliance promptly fixing the problem. I would encourage everyone to read the full text of the letter http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/03-08/0307southwestlette...
As a former ATA employee who loved my Company and my job and was
heartbroken when our res office in Chicago closed I always felt 100% confident, secure and safe whenever I flew. Now you're my carrier and
I have that same confidence whenever I fly SWA (six flights last year, five the year before and two coming up in the next few months). The co-flights with ATA and SWA started shortly before my office closed and with the co-flights the two companies became a team and we learned about each other. I've always had the highest respect for the management , maintenance crews, pilots, flight attendants, and res teams and know that safefy would never be compromised under any condition. I hope this situation gets resolved
quickly and favorably.
"Safety is, has always been, and will always will be our number one priority."
The use of both the active and passive voices in the same verb seems a little unnecessary.
Well, Well, Well, where do i beging? I fly southwest almost ever friday and sunday on a regular basis, and i must say that i am not suprised that Southwest got in trouble for lack of maintenance. In fact this one plane i flew on (5 times in a three month period) had an emergency exit door that leaked air during flight. I have also seen cracked windows, seats that dont lock in the "full upright and locked position", and overhead storage bins that need to be slamed shut to lock. Just to name a few things. As far as i am concerned, It is also my belief that Boeing is backing up Southwest airlines because Southwest is Boeing's biggest client. (just my belief) But not to worry fellow Southwesters, I am shure that the airfare will once again go up, and gouge their beloved passengers so Southwest can pay for there fines. As for me, i only flew Sothwest because of there afordable prices, but now, i think that the steady rise in airfare from the past couple of years makes me want to start investing in other airlines. Lets face it, for a few dollars more i can buy the seat i want to sit in. Just my opinoin.
Shame on you Southwest.
Admit you were wrong and pay the fine.
Then, apologize and hope we'll forgive you.
You don't mess with safety, no matter how cheap and fun you are.
Bryan,
You might want to learn to spell correctly before you go around spewing your opinion (notice the correct spelling of the word). I found 9 mistakes, not to mention the horrendous lack of proper capitalization and use of commas and apostrophes. Just my opinion.
I DO believe you. After much frustration with United, I transferred a couple of years ago to Southwest on parallel runs. After retiring over a year ago, I still have 600,000+ miles banked on United. But I'll take Southwest any day.
I have carefully watched your pilots' pre-flight inspections and despite the occasional levity of your crews, I have nearly absolute faith in them.
Beyond that I most appreciate the fact that immediately on learning of this error you reported it to the FAA and Boeing. The naysayers can say what they want. I still think that Southwest is the best managed airline in the business. And by the way, my wife will be on a 7 am flight to Oakland tomorrow and will fly to Sacramento on Tuesday!
I think that Southwest Airlines is run by liars. The Federal Officials are calling this, "the worst violation they have ever seen." Inspections are due and mandatory due to several crashes involving 737 aircraft. If safety was concern, they would have complied. So they are lying. Profit is their concern. This is unbelievable. SOUTHWEST!!!!!!!!!!!! if you can't run your business correctly then don't run it at all but don't come out with a bunch of lies about safety. Just say you are sorry for failing your customers and shareholders, get rid of the morons that think they are managers and hire honest people.
You say that the FAA letter gives you "the opportunity to present both our case and the facts." I hope that presentation will be thorough and persuasive because the clichÃ