GroundSupportWorldWide.com |

The company said it had 520 Boeing 737 jets at the end of last year. Nearly 200 of them are older models, the Boeing 737-300, that were supposed to undergo extra inspections for cracks in the fuselage.

Southwest Chief Executive Gary Kelly had said Tuesday he was concerned by findings from an internal investigation into the missed inspections. He announced that the Dallas-based company had placed three employees on paid leave while it investigated the situation.

The FAA said Acting Administrator Robert A. Sturgell met Wednesday with Kelly, who gave a briefing on the steps the airline is taking to comply with inspection orders. The FAA is conducting its own review.

Earlier, Sturgell called the events "a twofold breakdown in the aviation system" — first, Southwest's failure to properly inspect its planes; and the FAA's failure to ground the jets as "at least one FAA inspector looked the other way."

The $10.2 million penalty is the largest the FAA has ever imposed on a carrier. Southwest has said it will appeal.

Southwest shares fell 91 cents to end at $11.49 in trading on Wednesday after they earlier fell to a 52-week low of $8.87.