Southwest Airlines to pay $2.8M in lawsuit

Southwest Airlines agreed to pay $2.8M to settle a lawsuit by the federal government over fuselage repairs that a contractor performed on dozens of planes. The Justice Department said Monday that Southwest also agreed to pay up to $5.5 million in additional penalties if it fails to improve oversight of contractors it hires to perform maintenance work. The Federal Aviation Administration sued Southwest in November 2014 in federal district court in Seattle, and the case was scheduled to go to trial next March.