The US Federal Aviation Administration has proposed fining Spirit Airlines $146,500 after employees allegedly mishandled hazardous materials, thus violating US Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations.
The FAA said on 22 March that employees at Miramar, Florida-based Spirit had offered five separate shipments of compressed oxygen cylinders to FedEx for air transportation.
The FedEx employees “rejected one of the shipments because the box in which the compressed oxygen cylinder was packed was damaged, did not adhere to the flame penetration resistance test requirements, and was not properly marked or labeled,” the FAA says.
The violations occurred in August and September 2022, and the cylinders were meant to be transported to New York from Detroit. The employees who committed them had not completed appropriate training ahead of time, the FAA says.
Spirit has 30 days after receiving the FAA’s enforcement letter to respond to the regulator.
