The US Department of Transportation (DOT) has fined Lufthansa $220,000 and SWISS $200,000 for operating United Airlines codeshare flights in regions where a Federal Aviation Administration had issued a flight prohibition for US carriers. The DOT ordered the airlines to “cease and desist from future similar violations.” This year, the DOT issued multiple fines totaling $2.9 million to international carriers for violations of airspace prohibitions. The Department issued one fine of $1.05 million last year.
International carriers must apply to the DOT for permission to operate codeshare flights with US-registered airlines and adhere to the same requirements as their codeshare partners. When international air carriers operate US airline codeshare flights in prohibited airspace, the US Department of Transportation can charge them for violating the restrictions and subject them to fines.
The fines issued to the two Lufthansa Group carriers followed an investigation by the DOT’s Office of Aviation Consumer Protection (OACP). The OACP found that “between March 2022 and April 2024, Lufthansa operated multiple flights carrying the United Airlines code in airspace prohibited by the FAA to US operators,” according to the USDOT statement. A separate OACP investigation found SWISS operated multiple flights in prohibited airspace with the United Airlines code between February 2022 and March 2024.