Trump administration quits Biden-era lawsuit against Southwest Airlines

The Trump administration on Friday abandoned a lawsuit filed by former President Biden’s Department of Transportation (DOT) against Southwest Airlines, accusing it of promoting unrealistic flight schedules.

Amid the Biden administration accusing the Southwest of wise marketing flights with an unrealistic schedule, the Justice Department filed a motion to dismiss the U.S. District Court in Northern California despite a prolonged delay in 2022.

Southwest praised the government’s decision on Friday night, which made the delay cut the challenges related to the pandemic.

“We thank DOT for the decision to abandon the lawsuit against the Southwest, which we believe is the right result in this situation,” a spokesperson for the airline told Hill.

The lawsuit was filed five days before leaving the office on Jan. 20, focusing on two specific flights: one between Baltimore, Maryland and Cleveland, Ohio, and the other between Chicago and Chicago and Oakland, California.

The spokesperson added: “The two controversial flights occurred a few years ago when the industry faced unprecedented challenges from the Alliance’s 19 pandemic and were postponed due to issues beyond the Southwest Control issue in many cases.”

Reuters reported in March that the Trump administration held talks with Southwest Airlines to resolve the lawsuit, which sought the highest penalties.

The firing of the lawsuit comes as air travel has attracted attention in recent months, especially safety issues following a handful of fatal crashes and a shortage of air traffic controllers in the country.

Since Trump returned to Washington earlier this year, the administration has been trying to fix outdated air traffic control systems and address controller shortages.

The Transport Department did not immediately respond to Hill’s request for comment.

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