American Airlines Debacle To Last Thru Weekend; Is It Being “Punished” By U.S.?

Posted on April 10, 2008
Filed Under Journalism, News, commentary |

Remember how American Airlines officials at first said that the mess with its canceled flights would be resolved by Thursday? Then Friday? Then Saturday? Now, they are saying they may need more time than that to get things back to normal at the nation’s largest airline.

american airlines picFor Friday, American says it will cancel some 570 flights so it can continue inspecting its aging fleet of MD-80 aircraft to make sure certain wiring has been installed correctly and up to federal aviation standards.

So far, American has canceled over 3,000 flights this week causing more than 300, ooo passengers to be stranded, mostly in Dallas and Chicago, American’s major hubs.

Who is to blame-American or the government?

That is a question with a complex answer.  In short, both are to blame. Here’s why:

American failed to inspect its planes for the potential wiring problem as it was mandated to do by directive of the Federal Aviation Administration. It got lazy and was apparently trying to cut corners, like many other financially hard pressed airlines nowadays, so continued to fly the suspect planes.

The FAA was already in a tailspin because its own inspectors allowed Southwest Airlines to continue operating Boeing 737’s, some with slight cracks in their metal skins, even though there was a mandatory inspection order out for those airplanes. Southwest is facing a large government fine.

So, the government, having felt burned once, is now really clamping down hard–something it should have done a long time ago. But, it may be going overboard, bringing misery to more than a quarter of a million passengers and causing further economic damage to American.

Not a big deal

Many aviation experts are pointing out that the problem with the MD-80s–or possible problem–is not likely to have any impact on flight safety. And, they argue, in any other time, the airline would have been granted far more time to carry out the inspections, lessening greatly the economic hardship to American as well as the inconvenience for American’s frustrated and rightfully angry former passengers.

But, the FAA is now under pressure from Congress, so that was not an option this time.

More time needed

Besides American, other airlines flying MD-80s are also pulling them out of service to carry on inspections. And, the threat of increased FAA action applies to all airlines and all aircraft type as an audit of service compliance is being carried out by the FAA through the end of June.

Greyhound just may start looking pretty darn good just about now!

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