Airline cancels about 300 flights
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - March 26, 2008 The canceled flights represent about 13 percent of the estimated
2,300 flights that the nation's biggest airline had scheduled for
the day. The highest concentrations of the cancellations were in
the airline's hubs at Dallas-Fort Worth and Chicago O'Hare
international airports.
American initially put the number of cancellations at 200, but
spokesman Tim Wagner said that was a conservative estimate because
the airline prefers to hold off on cancellations as long as
possible. The entire fleet of MD-80s is being inspected, Wagner
said.
Separately, Delta Air Lines said it was voluntarily
re-inspecting wiring on 133 MD-88 and MD-90 airplanes. However, it
had no estimate Wednesday on how many flights it might need to
cancel, a spokeswoman said.
The need for the new inspections became known during an audit of
American by a joint team of inspectors from the Federal Aviation
Administration and the Fort Worth-based airline, Wagner said.
The inspection involves proper spacing between two bundles of
wires in the plane's auxiliary hydraulic system, Wagner said. It
must be installed "exactly according to the directive," he said.
Wagner did not have an estimate of how many planes had completed
the inspection and returned to service, and he couldn't say whether
cancellations would continue into Thursday.
"We are in the process of completing the inspections on the
remaining airplanes and will return them to service on a rolling
basis throughout the day," Wagner said.
About 80 departures were canceled in Dallas-Fort Worth and
another 67 were grounded in Chicago, Wagner said.
Shares of American's parent AMR Corp. fell $1.01, or 10.55
percent, to $8.62 in late trading Wednesday, approaching the lower
end of their 52-week range of $8.38 to $34.
The FAA is taking extra precautions on the heels of accusations that Southwest Airlines missed or failed to conduct airplane inspections.
The agency proposed a $10 million fine against the carrier.
That was the largest fine ever imposed against a passenger airline.
