Delta pays $10.5 million to settle post office allegations

Delta planes sit at their gates on June 13, 2022, at Salt Lake City International Airport, in Salt Lake City. Delta Air Lines has agreed to pay $10.5 million to settle charges it falsified information about deliveries of international mail, including mail sent to U.S. soldiers overseas. The Justice Department said Thursday, June 30, 2022, that Delta was under contract to the Postal Service when it falsified records about deliveries from 2010 to 2016. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Delta Air Lines has agreed to pay $10.5 million to settle allegations that it falsified information about deliveries of international mail that it was contracted to carry, including mail sent to U.S. soldiers deployed overseas.

The Justice Department said Thursday that Delta was hired by the U.S. Postal Service to collect mail from several locations including Defense Department and State Department installations.

Delta is the latest airlines to settle similar accusations.

The Atlanta-based airline was supposed to scan mail that it hauled to document when it was delivered. Federal officials accused Delta of falsifying records to avoid penalties for mail that was late or sent to the wrong location.

Delta won several contracts for international mail-hauling beginning in 2009, and submitted false records from 2010 to 2016, according to the settlement.

Delta did not admit liability, and it was not required to pay the government's costs to investigate and pursue the matter.

“With this matter now concluded, we look forward to continuing to move USPS mail and freight for our shared customers across our global network,” the airline said in a statement.

The head of the Justice Department’s civil division, Brian Boynton, said the settlement showed the department’s commitment to go after contractors who don’t meet their obligations “and misrepresent their failure to perform.”

Delta is the latest among several airlines to have settled similar accusations. Last year, United Airlines agreed to pay $49 million to settle similar charges, and before that American Airlines reached a $22 million settlement in 2019.