Airline Directors Ignored Safety, Suit Says

DALLAS (CN) - Shareholders claim Southwest Airlines could have prevented the 44 grounded Boeing 747s on March 12, and the cancellation of 120 flights, by keeping the company accountable for performing federally mandated safety inspections.

The directors' lack of oversight allowed airline staff to ignore federal inspection regulations, leading the Federal Aviation Administration to impose a record $10.2 million fine against the airline for its noncompliance, shareholders claim in Dallas County Court.

Southwest grounded the flights after the FAA determined that 46 planes had been operating without the mandatory inspections for fuselage fatigue cracking.

Shareholders say the defendants "willfully ignore the obvious and pervasive problems with Southwest's internal control practices and procedures, and failed to make a good faith effort to correct the problems or prevent their recurrence."

They are represented by Nix Patterson & Roach.

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