American cancels 850 more flights
Carrier reinspecting the wiring on fleet of MD-80 jetsThe Associated Press
updated 10:46 a.m. ET, Wed., April. 9, 2008
DALLAS - American Airlines canceled 850 flights Wednesday — more than one-third of its schedule — as it spent a second straight day inspecting the wiring on some of its jets, the same issue that caused the nation’s biggest airline to scrub hundreds of flights two weeks ago.
American canceled nearly 500 flights on Tuesday, stranding hundreds of passengers. Federal inspectors found problems with wiring work done two weeks ago, although the airline says safety was never jeopardized.
Tim Wagner, a spokesman for American, said cancellations could continue beyond Wednesday as the airline works on its MD-80 jets.
American uses the MD-80s mostly on mid-range flights, particularly from hub airports in Dallas and Chicago. Wagner said 208 of Wednesday’s cancellations would occur at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and 138 at Chicago O’Hare.
At New York’s LaGuardia Airport, hundreds of passengers stood in a check-in line. The airline offered free doughnuts, coffee and orange juice, but there were few takers.
Bishop Bernard Jordan, a Harlem minister, was in a first-class line trying to catch a flight to Atlanta, where he was scheduled to preach Wednesday night.
“It would have been good to know in advance,” said Jordan, who said he has 4 million frequent-flier miles with American and flies to Atlanta every other week. “I would have booked with another airline.”
The Fort Worth-based airline said it would put displaced travelers on other American flights or those operated by competitors. Wagner said that because the delays were “within our control” and not weather-related, American was offering meals, lodging and ground transportation to affected travelers.
American operates about 2,300 daily flights, more than one-third with MD-80s.
Round 2 of cancellations
It was American’s second bout with mass cancellations in less than two weeks for failing to meet the same wiring rules set by the Federal Aviation Administration, which is cracking down on airlines after admitting its inspectors were too lax last year with Southwest Airlines Co.
Since the FAA began looking more closely at airlines’ compliance with safety directives, there have been cancellations at Southwest, Delta Air Lines Inc. and UAL Corp.’s United Airlines. The agency levied a $10.2 million civil penalty against Southwest for using planes that had missed inspections for cracks in the fuselage.
Wagner said an FAA inspector checked several MD-80s Monday and found that some of the wiring work performed two weeks ago didn’t meet FAA standards. At issue: the spacing and direction of cords used to secure bundles of wires in the planes’ auxiliary hydraulic systems.
The airline said flight safety was never compromised, but, beginning around midafternoon Tuesday, American began yanking planes out of service so that wiring bundles could be inspected and stowed properly in the wheel wells.
Gerard Arpey, the chief executive of American and its parent, AMR Corp., apologized for the inconvenience and said the airline was working to comply with FAA orders.
The cancellations and resulting loss of revenue could hardly come at a worse time for American, which is facing high fuel prices and a weakening economy that could hurt demand for travel.
AMR is scheduled to report first-quarter earnings in two weeks, and analysts are forecasting a loss of more than $300 million, according to a survey by Thomson Financial.
Jamie Baker, an analyst with JPMorgan, said in a recent note to clients that he expects airline revenue to decline significantly beginning in the April-June second quarter due to the one-two punch of costly fuel and a possible recession.
© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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