Hawaiian Airlines chief executive officer Mark Dunkerley told Bloomberg News this morning that U.S. airlines struggling to overcome 11 months of revenue declines are also having to deal with an increase of fines under the Obama administration.

Dunkerley said the federal government — which enforces regulations on safety, advertising and customer service — previously reduced fines after carriers took remedial action.
“We’re just seeing less of that now,” Dunkerley told Bloomberg News in an interview in New York.
The Transportation Department said Aug. 10 that Hawaiian Air was fined $50,000 for failing to disclose that a flight for which it was selling tickets was operated by another carrier.
That fine may sound “pretty small” against the company’s $1.2 billion annual revenue, Dunkerley said. “But it’s $50,000 on one telephone call. We don’t sell any tickets for $50,000. The fines really do make a big impact.”
Industry passenger revenue fell 19 percent in September, the 11th consecutive monthly decline, the Air Transport Association, the Washington trade group for major carriers, said Tuesday.