American, Delta cancel more flights
DALLAS (AP) - March 27, 2008 American, the nation's largest airline, canceled 132 flights of
its estimated 2,300 flights scheduled for Thursday, spokesman Tim
Wagner said. That was about 6 percent of American's Thursday
schedule after the Fort Worth, Texas-based airline canceled 325
flights on Wednesday.
Delta expects about 275 cancellations through early Friday,
affecting about 3 percent of Delta's worldwide flight schedule,
said spokeswoman Chris Kelly. About 70 percent of Delta's MD-88
fleet was to be inspected by early evening Thursday, with normal
operations planned by early Friday, she said.
American said it began its inspections after an audit of the
carrier by a joint team of inspectors from the Federal Aviation
Administration and the Fort Worth-based airline. The inspections
focus on proper spacing between two bundles of wires in the plane's
auxiliary hydraulic system, and those wires must be installed
exactly according to an FAA directive, American said.
American has completed inspections on 243 MD-80 aircraft, and
about 45 planes "are still being worked on," Wagner said
Thursday.
"We expect all but a few to be back in service by tomorrow,"
he said.
Delta expected heavy volumes Thursday at its hub at
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Kelly said. Both
Delta and the Transportation Security Administration were bringing
in extra staff to handle the crowd of travelers, she said.
Kelly said she didn't yet have estimates on how many passengers
were affected by the flight cancelations.
The inspections come almost three weeks after the FAA ordered a
check of all U.S. airlines' maintenance records. That was after
controversy erupted over its handling of missed safety inspections
at Dallas-based Southwest Airlines.
The FAA hit Southwest this month with a $10.2 million civil
penalty for missing the inspections and then continuing to fly the
planes with passengers on board even after realizing the mistake.
Southwest has said it will appeal the penalty.
The FAA said then that it would check compliance with at least
10 safety orders, called airworthiness directives, at every airline
by March 28. The agency said a full audit covering at least 10
percent of all safety directives will be finished by June 30.
Southwest said it reported the missed inspections itself, and
that manufacturer Boeing agreed that keeping the planes in
operation until they could be re-examined within 10 days didn't
pose a safety hazard. Six of the jets required repairs for small
cracks. Those repairs have been completed and the planes returned
to service, Southwest spokeswoman Marilee McKinnis said Thursday.
Shares of American parent AMR Corp. fell 19 cents, or 2.2
percent, to $8.42 in morning trading Thursday while shares of Delta
Air Lines Inc. lost 30 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $8.44 after
slipping to a 52-week low of $8.39 earlier in the session.