Southwest flew millions of passengers on planes that were missing maintenance records, according to a new report

• Southwest Airlines has flown more than 17 million passengers on planes with missing safety paperwork, according to a Department of Transportation report obtained by The Wall Street Journal.
• The report also details lax oversight of the airline by the Federal Aviation Administration.
• The report is the latest accusing Southwest of not prioritizing safety highly enough, and includes an example of pilots repeatedly attempting a dangerous landing.
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Southwest Airlines flew millions of passengers on airplanes with unconfirmed maintenance records, failing to prioritize safety, according to an explosive new report from The Wall Street Journal.

A federal Transportation Department report, which The Journal reports will be released in the coming days, also says the Federal Aviation Administration has not adequately addressed the airline's violations.

More than 17 million passengers were flown on jets with unconfirmed records over about two years, the report said.  A culture disincentivizing safety also led a pilot to repeatedly attempt a landing in 2019 during gale-force winds, leading to both of the plane's wingtips being smashed on the runway, the report says.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the report also says the FAA's oversight of the airline was "lax, ineffective, and inconsistent."

Late last year, the FAA considered grounding up to 38 Southwest jets due to missing maintenance documentation, but eventually declined to do so. The planes in question were mostly purchased used by Southwest from foreign carriers, which failed to keep reliable service records.

Although the airline believed it had backup records, it later found those to be missing.

Southwest has faced repeated criticism in recent years over safety concerns, including over maintenance records, inappropriate dealings with local FAA managers, and repeated failures to compute correct take-off weights before flights.

Similarly, the FAA's relationship with Southwest has been criticized as too cozy, with local managers accused of being overly accommodating to the airline's requests. In 2019, three local managers were reassigned to no longer regulate the airline.

During the 2019 landing in gale-force winds, pilots aborted three attempted landings at Bradley International Airport near Hartford, Connecticut.

The pilots continued descents through severe turbulence, low-level wind shear, and gusts stronger than they were trained to handle, the report says. Eventually, the plane diverted and landed safely in Providence, Rhode Island.

A news report from the local Hartford Courant said at the time that the landing attempts "caused the tip of one wing to scrape the runway" and "left dozens of frightened passengers vomiting from the severe turbulence." Accordingly, an internal report reviewed by The Journal said flight attendants alerted the ground crew that they would need to clean vomit from "the number of passengers who had gotten sick" during the botched landings.

A spokesperson for the airline told Business Insider that the company saw the draft and disagrees with the "unfounded" implications that "we would tolerate a relaxing of standards." The spokesperson also said the company's safety systems meet or exceed regulatory requirements. 

"We have communicated our disappointment in the draft audit report to the OIG," the spokesperson said. "We are considered one of the world's most admired companies and uphold an excellent safety record."