Fliers Face 3rd Day Of Cancellations

American Airlines Nixes 900 More Flights; Cancellations Could Run Through End Of The Week

(CBS/AP)  American Airlines canceled more than 900 flights Thursday to fix faulty wiring in hundreds of jets, marking the third straight day of mass groundings as company executives offered profuse apologies and travel vouchers to calm angry customers.

The airline is looking at 250,000 people or more who will be bumped from their flights, reports CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes.

A spokesman said the cancellations would go into Saturday, but that American expected all of the grounded planes to be flying again by Saturday night.

Cordes reports that as of Thursday evening, American hadn't even reached the halfway mark with their inspections.

Of the 300 MD-80s in its fleet, it's inspected and fixed the wiring harnesses in just 130.

Other carriers operating similar aircraft also left passengers scrambling for alternatives as they also grounded flights to inspect the wire bundles at the heart of a renewed safety crackdown by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Alaska Airlines canceled 11 more flights early Thursday as it continued to inspect its nine MD-80 jets. Spokeswoman Caroline Boren in Seattle said that follows 28 cancellations on Wednesday and three on Tuesday. The airline was working to accommodate affected passengers, she said.

Midwest Airlines canceled at least 10 flights Thursday after it grounded all of its 13 MD-80 planes to deal with the same issue. Spokesman Mike Brophy said federal regulators cleared the planes to fly, but airline executives decided they should be re-inspected by Midwest personnel.

Delta Air Lines was likely to ground "a handful of flights" Thursday, but was expecting "minimal cancellations and minimal customer impact," spokeswoman Betsy Talton said. The carrier operates 117 MD-80 series planes.

The problems could be just beginning. The latest checks are part of a second phase of audits being carried out by the FAA, which came under pressure from lawmakers after its inspectors were found to be too lax with Southwest Airlines Co. last year. That round of inspections runs through June 30.

American, the nation's largest carrier, said Friday it had canceled 933 flights for the day. The airline has now scrubbed nearly 2,500 flights since Tuesday, when federal regulators warned that nearly half its planes could violate a safety regulation designed to prevent fires. That's more than one in three flights canceled over the last three days.

American estimates that more than 100 passengers would have been on each of those canceled flights. That means a quarter-million people have been inconvenienced this week.

Tim Wagner, a spokesman for American, said the cancellations would extend into Saturday, but said it was too soon to know how many flights would be dropped Friday or Saturday.

A return to normal operations depends on how quickly mechanics can inspect and fix the wire bundles.

Wagner said as of mid-morning, the FAA had cleared 101 of American's 300 MD-80s to fly and 16 more were awaiting final FAA inspection. Friday's schedule assumed that only 60 of those planes would be ready, but the airline expected 180 to be flying by Friday night and the rest by Saturday night.

The fallout could be seen at airport ticket counters, where frustrated customers bickered with American employees, and on the stock market, where shares of American's parent company tumbled more than 11 percent Wednesday.

Airline executives said they thought they had fixed the wiring two weeks ago, when they canceled more than 400 flights to inspect and in some cases fix the shielding around the wires in their MD-80s.

But this week, Federal Aviation Administration inspectors, who have been conducting stepped-up surveys of compliance with safety rules called airworthiness directives, said 15 of 19 American jets they examined flunked. That left the airline no choice but to ground all 300 of its MD-80s, the most common jet in its 655-plane fleet.

"We have obviously failed to complete the airworthiness directive to the precise standards that the FAA requires, and I take full responsibility for that," said Gerard Arpey, American's chairman and chief executive.

American's executive vice president Daniel Garton apologized for the snafu and vowed that the airline would fix the problem this time.

"We simply cannot put our customers through this again," he said.

Garton added that for American, "this certainly couldn't have come at a worse time." The Fort Worth-based airline faces record fuel prices and fear of a recession, and analysts forecast that its parent, AMR Corp., lost more than $300 million in the first three months of the year.

American declined to say how much it would spend on $500 travel vouchers and hotel rooms for stranded travelers and overtime for mechanics, or how much revenue it would lose by putting some displaced customers on other airlines. But Garton said it would be "significant."

Perhaps worried about that cost, investors on Wednesday sent AMR shares down $1.15 to $9.17 - though they regained some of that Thursday, rising 6.3 percent back to $9.75.

The issue stems from an FAA order in 2006 covering the bundling of wires in the backup power system for the fuel pump of the MD-80. The FAA says improperly bundled wires could rub, leading to an electrical short or even fire.

American officials said the safety of their planes was never jeopardized, and the FAA said no serious incidents have been blamed on poorly bundled wires.

[heraldtkel]

These girls will lose www.theoandavirus.com

[sanfelz]

If a terrorist blows up a plane, it is a crime. If Americans die from poor maintenance of airplanes, poor design of SUVs or wrongly tested pharmaceuticals, the governmant and corporations shrug their shoulders and dismiss as a cost of doing business.

Man, the gov''t must think Americans are really really stupid! Wait they are!!! Oh gees!

It is really not about these so-called wire failures. Instead, it is about saving money due to the high price of oil. People are not flying so they cancel the flights to make sure the other flights are full with standby passengers.


It really is not rocket science.

But the powers that be make it seem like it is.

[roger_inkart]

This is all the liberals fault.

Posted by TracyMorgan4 at 11:52 AM : Apr 10, 2008

No, it isn''t. You really shouldn''t believe everything you think (or what you are told to think, either.)

[demslie]

This is all the liberals fault. Libs have so distorted the power of labor unions that entire sectors of the American economy are now being destroyed. Airline mechanics is just one example.
Posted by TracyMorgan4

This is another example of tying to blame all the nations problems on nameless ''''liberals''''! This is a problem of the FAA failing to properly inspect planes, not a problem related to labor unions!

Posted by nolalou

Sorry nolalou, you are not correct. And as usual the lying cheating Democrats would never mention that the Airlines told Congress that it would take years to fix thousands of planes unless the airlines stopped flying which would bankrupt the near bankrupt airlines. Now that Democrats in Congress forced the airlines to stop flying, its all the airlines fault. And of course the lying cheating Democrats would never mention that Aircraft Unions, and the Democrat Trial Lawyers Associations which are the Largest CASH contributors to the DNC are behind much of this mess. The Unions are mad because the near Bankrupt airlines were forced to cut costs including Union jobs. And the Slimme Snakes of the Democrat Trial Lawyers can''''t wait to find a reason to sue for Billions so they can finance Hillary and Obama and buy more Yachts and Mansions. Democrats don''''t give a DAMNN about public safety. It%u2019s all about the money and political power.

[antoniof123]

This is all the liberals fault. Libs have so distorted the power of labor unions that entire sectors of the American economy are now being destroyed. Airline mechanics is just one example.

Posted by TracyMorgan4 at 11:52 AM : Apr 10, 2008

Did you work at being stupid or did you attent a special neo con school. I think it was the latter but to be accepted do you have to be stupid to begin with.

[nolalou]

This is all the liberals fault. Libs have so distorted the power of labor unions that entire sectors of the American economy are now being destroyed. Airline mechanics is just one example.
Posted by TracyMorgan4

This is another example of tying to blame all the nations problems on nameless ''liberals''! This is a problem of the FAA failing to properly inspect planes, not a problem related to labor unions!

[excoachken]

Where oh where is my government when these travelers have been stranded. Perhaps we need Brownie back on the payroll of FEMA to do another "Heckuva job!!!!!"

[bobnjersey]

[This is all the liberals fault. Libs have so distorted the power of labor unions that entire sectors of the American economy are now being destroyed.]
[Posted by TracyMorgan4 at 11:52 AM : Apr 10, 2008]

aren''t all the world''s problems due to liberals ... and all the world''s cures are due to conservatives?

[prinzowhales]

Years ago they would show lines of fat babushkas standing in Russia and say that this was illustrative of the failures of communism. :)

Remember!...When they would brag about steel production...wheat production....cattle production... industrial efficiency as evidence of America''s successful ''free enterprise'' system? Brag about our airplane production? Our transportation grid?

Remember when there was a ''middle class'' where the wife stayed home and the children went to neighborhood schools without federal intervention?

Remember when autism was rare?

Remember when we didn''t send our sons and treasure to distant shores for Big Oil, Israel, Opium and the almighty dollar?

Remember when the dollar was not a worthless bank note passed by bankers who have the power to create it out of nothing?

Flap your arms real hard! Positive thinking and high self-esteem will get you where you are going!

[andor3]

somebody (media?) needs to figure out what these AA people are doing. Talked to people who are on canceled flights, and they are not all MD-80s--so it is not all that one airworthiness directive. And also obviously an airplane serves multiple flights, and once it is fixed no more flights served by that aircraft need to be canceled. So canceling one in three of the airlines flights does not add up... they said it was only MD-80s and a 5 minute fix?

[killtheliars]

hopefully they will go under

[tracymorgan4]

This is all the liberals fault. Libs have so distorted the power of labor unions that entire sectors of the American economy are now being destroyed. Airline mechanics is just one example.

[fairmusic]

Oh how we love our customers....




TORO MISTREATS EMPLOYEES IN WINDOM MN

[antoniof123]

Watch''''em hit the tax payer for a bailout to cover the loss of ticket sales!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by labombaOH at 10:18 AM : Apr 10, 2008

Mr. President, we are going to have to do something about American Airlines. What? Uh? The largest airline in America may go under. Quick bail them out its okay the Credit Card the GOP congress gave me still hasn''t expired.

Mr. President the economy is going down the tube the American people need help. Are they rich? No. Well then forget it I am a compasionate conservitive remember.

There you have it folks the village idiot bites the hand that feeds him.

[stn_sage]

Gerard Arpey, American''s chairman and chief executive, and the man who takes ''full responsibility'' for this---will probably get a huge bonus for this!
Isn''t that how it works these days?
Drive your company into bankruptcy or insolvency and get a huge bonus?!
We''ll have to see if they''re even still in business after this---another bankruptcy filing could result, who knows?!
A competent government would step-in & mandate competent regulation! But since we have neither, that isn''t going to happen, either!

[hoosiermoon]

American Airlines will be filing for bankruptcy soon. The public is just too mad for them to stay in business. It may take a few more days for the top management to work out the details of paying themselves huge severance checks. Then they''ll be gone.

[truth-hurts]

They''re are cancelling their flights because the wiring is all screwed up, BECAUSE.....The airlines have been getting their maintanence done at over-sea stops because its cheaper.

[oscarez]

It does not matter how bad the airlines treat there customers the customers will still fly. With oil at $112.00 how long will it be before it will cost to much to fly?

[bobnjersey]

[American Airlines canceled more than 900 flights Thursday to fix faulty wiring in hundreds of jets]

they''re going to cancel all flights on friday to pick the stones out of the grooves on the tires. this may take a month to complete. sorry for the inconvenience.