American, Delta back to normal routine
DALLAS (AP) - March 28, 2008 Four American flights were canceled out of the airline's about
2,300 daily flights, American spokesman Tim Wagner said early
Friday morning. He said that six planes were still being worked on.
"That's pretty much as close to normal as you can get," Wagner
said.
Of the 300 aircraft inspected, 151 needed modified, he said.
Delta Air Lines Inc. spokeswoman Betsy Talton said the airline
completed its inspections Thursday night and planned no
cancellations for Friday.
"We will be running a normal schedule," she said.
Delta said Thursday it would cancel 275 flights, affecting 3
percent of Delta's worldwide flight schedule, to make the
re-inspections.
American, the nation's largest airline, canceled 141 flights by
mid-afternoon Thursday, officials said. The Fort Worth-based
airline canceled 318 flights Wednesday. American is part of AMR
Corp.
At American, inspectors from the airline and the Federal
Aviation Administration focused on fixing the spacing between cords
used to secure bundles of wires in the auxiliary hydraulic systems
of its MD-80 aircraft.
The inspections came almost three weeks after the FAA ordered a
check of maintenance records at all U.S. airlines following
criticism of the agency's handling of missed fuselage inspections
at Dallas-based Southwest Airlines Co.
The FAA imposed a $10.2 million civil penalty on Southwest this
month for missing the inspections and then continuing to fly the
planes with passengers on board even after realizing the mistake.
Southwest officials have said they repaired small cracks in the
fuselages of six planes last year and four this month.
The FAA said it would check compliance with at least 10 safety
orders at every U.S. airline by Friday. A more complete audit is
due by the end of June.