Morey money-related links:
Get Action News on your website
Airline grounds 60 jets for inspections
ATLANTA - April 1, 2009 - The groundings, which represent nearly 40 percent of ASA's total
fleet, were expected to cause some flight delays for passengers
flying ASA. It could take 36 to 42 hours to complete the
inspections, company spokeswoman Kate Modolo said.
RELATED LINK: Atlantic Southwest Airlines
The paperwork audit raised questions about whether the engines
on Bombardier CRJ200 jets had been properly inspected according to
the guidelines provided by the engines' manufacturer, Modolo said.
The company reported the problem itself to the Federal Aviation
Administration and grounded the planes so they could re-inspected
as a precautionary measure, she said.
Some of the planes were being inspected at the airline's hub,
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world's
busiest. Others were scattered around ASA's other maintenance
facilities.
According to its Web site, Atlanta-based ASA also has 38 70-seat
Bombardier CRJ700 jets and two 76-seat Bombardier CRJ900 jets.
Delta sold ASA to St. George, Utah-based SkyWest in 2005 for
$425 million in cash. ASA remains a regional carrier for Delta, the
world's biggest airline operator. ASA doesn't fly for any other
major carrier. Delta owns Northwest Airlines and three of the other
eight regional carriers it uses to provide connecting service to
its customers.
A Delta spokeswoman, Betsy Talton, couldn't say how many Delta
passengers and flights would be affected by the ASA groundings. She
said Delta was working to accomodate affected passengers and to
cover as many ASA flights as possible with other regional carriers
or Delta mainline planes.
ASA serves about 110 markets and flies 152 planes.
The number of flights affected and the length of any delays
weren't immediately known.
After the announcement by ASA, Standard & Poor's reiterated its
sell opinion on shares of parent SkyWest.
"SkyWest was already facing capacity reductions, decreased
utilization and rising maintenance costs," S&P's Jim Corridore
said. "This grounding will exacerbate all of those issues, in our
view. We think additional capacity cuts by SkyWest's airline
partners are possible, and some of these cuts would likely be to
regional jets."
SkyWest shares fell 6 cents to $12.38 in morning trading
Wednesday.
Morey money-related links:
Morey money-related links:
