Southwest Airlines Responds to FAA Letter of Penalty

 From the Southwest Airlines Website:

Receipt of the FAA letter of penalty gives us the chance to present our case and get the facts out which we feel will support our actions taken back in March 2007. We understand the FAA's concerns, and we are anxious to work with them. We assure our Customers that this was never a safety of flight issue.Southwest Airlines Responds to FAA Letter of Penalty The FAA penalty is related to one of many routine and redundant inspections on our aircraft fleet involving an extremely small area in one of the many overlapping inspections. These inspections were designed to detect early signs of skin cracking. Southwest Airlines discovered the missed inspection area, disclosed it to the FAA, and promptly reinspected all potentially affected aircraft in March 2007. The FAA approved our actions and considered the matter closed as of April 2007. The Boeing Company supports Southwest's aggressive compliance plan was technically valid, and in Boeing's opinion, Southwest acted responsibly and the safety of the fleet was not compromised. Southwest has an excellent maintenance program, with more Boeing 737 aircraft experience than any carrier in the world. Our experience has helped improve the overall safety of the fleet.
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