In its ongoing dispute over alleged discrimination, Southwest Airways has made new claims in opposition to the Metropolis of San Antonio that airport officers misrepresented the details to the courtroom and taxpayers in protection statements.
The lawsuit that the most important service on the San Antonio Worldwide Airport (SAT) introduced in September in opposition to the town and its director of airports over being shut out of latest terminal plans reached a brand new fever pitch on Thursday when the airline filed an modification to its preliminary criticism.
The amended criticism states that inside metropolis paperwork, just lately obtained by attorneys for the airline, affirm airport officers confirmed a “subjective desire” for sure airline companies — regardless of their denials underneath oath — and made gate assignments based mostly on whether or not airways could be a greater “match” for the brand new terminal.
Southwest is in search of damages for what it calls misrepresentations by metropolis and SAT officers.
The town lawyer’s workplace launched an announcement saying, based mostly on a preliminary overview, the amended criticism “recasts Southwest’s earlier allegations however provides distortions and misrepresentations,” and the claims are with out advantage.
“The town’s processes in negotiating an Airline Use and Lease Settlement with all the airways and in assigning gates have been authorized and acceptable,” it states. “We stay up for the courtroom listening to on these issues the place we are going to handle Southwest’s allegations. We’ll proceed to maneuver ahead to increase the airport in a means that is sensible for our prospects and our airways.”
Southwest’s current amended criticism claims the town’s paperwork present that in negotiations over a brand new lease settlement, officers “intentionally hid from Southwest its plan to maintain Southwest in Terminal A.”
Legal professionals say that motion prevented the airline from insisting on the various extra tens of millions it deemed essential for renovations to the outdated terminal.
The battle goes again to September when Southwest Airways refused to signal a brand new lease settlement with the town, following two years of negotiations, after it was denied a spot within the deliberate new airport terminal.
Southwest has mentioned Terminal A received’t meet its future growth plans.
Seven different airways dedicated to signing the 10-year settlement outlining what they may pay to make use of the airport and what gates every will use. The long run terminal and gate assignments are based mostly on carriers’ requests and projected demand, airport officers have mentioned.
Director of Airports Jesus Saenz has mentioned his staff has gone via a “a really rigorous, truthful and equitable course of to outline particularly what’s greatest for the airport, the airways and the passengers.”
After refusing to signal the settlement, Southwest Airways sued over the way it mentioned the town “unlawfully and unfairly utilized subjective standards” to bar Southwest from the brand new terminal as a result of its passenger “profile” was deemed an inappropriate match for the brand new lodging.
When later in September a federal decide rejected Southwest’s request to pause the reassignment of gates on the airport — an early piece of the bigger authorized motion — an airline government vowed to proceed difficult the legality of San Antonio’s standards for selecting the airways assigned to terminals within the first place.
“First, and most significantly, we have to undergo the preliminary injunction listening to, to undergo discovery, to higher perceive how the town of San Antonio got here to their choice on how Southwest shouldn’t be a match,” Southwest Airways Vice President of Airport Affairs Steve Sisneros mentioned on the time.
On Feb. 12, the town produced roughly 27,000 pages of discovery, or paperwork associated to the terminal, gate assignments and lease settlement.
The Feb. 27 criticism incorporates screenshots of gating scorecard worksheets, officers’ textual content messages and a passenger survey. Southwest mentioned these paperwork display that the town gave desire to airways that catered to enterprise vacationers, providing first-class service and membership lounges, penalizing Southwest and its leisure-travel buyer base.
The submitting additionally factors to paperwork from the principal architect, Corgan, for the brand new terminal and directions given to Corgan directing it to design the terminal round different airways and lounges.
Attorneys for Southwest accuse airport officers of additionally deceptive taxpayers, and prioritizing lounges even after the outcomes of a passenger survey confirmed most San Antonio vacationers most popular different facilities first.
As well as, the criticism states that airport officers used a “bait and change” tactic in speeding to have Metropolis Council approve the brand new airport use settlement “with solely $200 million to renovate Terminal A over Southwest’s strenuous objections, which is woefully insufficient to finish the mandatory renovations.”
That rendered Southwest “powerless,” the attorneys say, to switch the settlement until different airways consented, and solidified the lease.
Airways that don’t signal the lease settlement pay premium charges in comparison with signatory airways. Additionally, charges are based mostly on landings and takeoffs so carriers with probably the most flights out and in of SAT pay probably the most charges.
These charges are used to make capital enhancements on the airport, like constructing a brand new $1.4 billion terminal. Southwest takes concern with paying the most important share of the brand new terminal however having no gate assignments there, the criticism states.
The criticism asks the courtroom to declare the lease agreements void underneath the Airline Deregulation Act.
The courtroom has set April 23, 24 and 30 for a preliminary listening to on the case.
