A study of airline safety shows security breaches and maintenance violations accounted for more than three-quarters of the dollar amount of fines issued by the Federal Aviation Administration between 1985-1998.
And Delta Air Lines, which operates a hub at Salt Lake City International Airport, received more fines (272) between 1994 and 1998 than any of the 23 U.S. carriers.The $2 million Delta paid in fines in 1998 was the second-highest amount paid by an airline that year, the most recent year for which complete data is available, according to the report.
The investigation of FAA records between 1985 and 1998 was conducted by USA Today and reported in its Monday editions.
It found the FAA fined or took administrative action against airlines an average eight times each workday in 1998 for safety violations
But airline officials, including Delta representatives, and officials at Salt Lake City International insist the problems identified by the FAA have been taken care of or are in the process of being resolved.
Delta spokeswoman Alesia Watson said one reason the airline's fine total seems high is because Delta is "very, very aggressive about self-disclosing any infractions and other airlines may not be as aggressive in reporting similar violations."
Delta spokesman John Kennedy added that the airline flies more people than any other in the world, "so you'd expect that the number of fines would reflect that we're the busiest airline."
Security lapses were discovered at Salt Lake City International in 1998 by a U.S. Department of Transportation investigation. The FAA continues to work with the airport and its airlines to improve security systems at the airport.
"We feel very confident we are meeting the FAA regulations and in most cases we exceed them," said Connie Proctor, superintendent of airport operations for the Salt Lake City Department of Airports.
"We met with our airlines and our tenants following that (1998 report) to review some of the trouble areas and have worked very well together to try to resolve those issue through employee awareness and some other programs we have implemented."
The FAA on Monday declined to release details of fines issued for violations by airlines at Salt Lake City International.
Watson said Delta does not have records of which fines were associated with specific airports and said "one thing's for sure, we don't talk about security issues externally."
Watson said the USA Today report did not take into account the relative severity of the 272 fines Delta received during the five-year period. Failure to file paperwork on time was treated the same as a flight-safety violation, she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.