Southwest Airlines has agreed to pay $15 million to settle a lawsuit that accuses the nation's four biggest air carriers of colluding to limit capacity to keep air fares high.
The Dallas-based airline said it continues to reject the allegations made by dozens of passengers in several lawsuits that were consolidated in 2016. Still, the carrier said it agreed to pay the settlement to avoid spending time and money fighting the case.
Representatives of American, Delta and United all said they plan to continue fighting the lawsuit.
The accusations were made in 23 antitrust lawsuits that were consolidated and brought in 2016 before Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, a federal judge in Washington. The lawsuits contend that starting in 2009, United, American, Southwest and Delta conspired to limit the number of new seats they added to raise airfares despite lower fuel costs.
A status conference for the lawsuit is scheduled in Kollar-Kotelly's courtroom Feb. 12.
The U.S. Justice Department confirmed in 2015 that it was looking into similar allegations. In a statement Thursday, the federal agency declined to comment.
The accusations were prompted when executives from several airlines used similar language at a trade group meeting in Miami in 2015, promising to stay "disciplined" about adding more flights and seats at a time of rising travel demand and low fuel costs.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., cited the comments by airline executives when he called for a Justice Department investigation in 2015.
In his letter to the Justice Department, Blumenthal asked for "a full and thorough investigation of anti-competitive, anti-consumer conduct and misuse of market power in the airline industry, evidenced by recent pricing patterns as well as remarks made at the (International Air Transport Association) conference."
