On Tuesday evening American Airlines announced it was canceling up to 500 flights, more than one-fifth of its schedule. American said it will be checking the bundling of wires in some planes, the same issue that caused the airline to scrap more than 400 flights last month.
 American, the nation's largest carrier, said the cancellations could spill into Wednesday and beyond. The airline said the Federal Aviation Administration raised more concerns about the recent inspections of the wiring in its approximately 300 MD-80 aircraft.
The inspections will focus on issues including the
spacing and direction of cords used to secure bundles of wires in the planes'
auxiliary hydraulic systems. The company said they were not safety-of-flight
issues. Tim Wagner, a spokesman for the airline, said an FAA inspector
checked several planes Monday and found that some of the work performed last
month didn't meet the agency's standards. American operates about 2,300
daily flights. Wagner said 185 flights had already been canceled by late Tuesday
afternoon at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, where American often uses
MD-80s.
The FAA has tightened inspections of planes at all U.S.
carriers since the agency came under fire for letting Southwest Airlines Co. fly
planes that had missed safety inspections. American and Delta Air Lines Inc.
both canceled flights in late March to perform wiring-related inspections and
repairs. Wagner said the latest grounding of flights was due to "very
detailed and technical compliance" with instructions that American gave its
mechanics last month for how to comply with the FAA order on wiring in MD-80s,
and the work done by the mechanics. Wagner said the company started
pulling planes out of service in mid-afternoon. The work may last just 10 to 20
minutes per plane but could take longer if wiring needs to be rebundled, he
said. It is "quite possible" that the work, and flight
cancellations, could stretch beyond Wednesday, he said.
In a statement issued by the airline, Chief Executive
Gerard Arpey said, "We regret and apologize that we are once again causing
inconvenience to our customers." He said the company was working in good
faith to comply completely with the FAA wiring order. The Fort Worth-based
airline said it would put displaced travelers on other American flights or those
operated by competitors. 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.
American's parent, AMR Corp., 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.
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