American Airlines Cancels 8 LAX Flights Over MD-80 Wiring Concerns

By Art Marroquin

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American Airlines canceled eight flights that use MD-80 jetliners at Los Angeles International Airport this morning amid concerns raised about wiring in the plane’s wheel well.

In total, Fort Worth-based American Airlines canceled about 200 of its 2,200 daily flights nationwide, according to the company’s corporate Web site.

About 1,000 affected LAX passengers were rebooked on other flights and notified of the cancellations by e-mail and telephone calls, said Paul Haney, deputy executive director of public and community relations for Los Angeles World Airports, the agency that operates LAX.

In one case, American Airlines used a Boeing 767 aircraft to consolidate passengers from two canceled MD-80 flights, Haney said. Four of the grounded MD-80 planes were inspected at LAX.

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport were hit the hardest, each reporting about 50 canceled American Airlines flights.

About two-thirds of the airline’s fleet of 300 Boeing MD-80 jetliners were grounded because the Federal Aviation Administration has questioned “how a certain bundle of wires” was secured to the aircraft.

“We are re-inspecting the MD-80s to make sure the wiring is installed and secured exactly according to the (FAA’s airworthiness) directive,” airline officials said in a statement. “Because the process can take several hours per aircraft, we have had to cancel approximately 200 flights as the aircraft are being inspected.”

Mechanics are inspecting the planes throughout the day to make sure the wiring is installed and secured according to federal directives, according to the airline’s statement. Inspected planes will be brought back into service on a rolling basis.

The FAA launched an audit last week of all airline maintenance records, sampling 10 airworthiness directives to make sure that airlines are in compliance, said Ian Gregor, an FAA spokesman. An initial review of all domestic carriers is expected to be completed by Friday, while a full audit will be completed in June, he said.

“So far, our review of airworthiness directives shows a very high rate of compliance among the airlines, which is what we expected to find,” Gregor said.

The MD-80 entered service in 1980 and seats up to 172 passengers. The jetliners are nearly 148 feet long and have a wingspan of nearly 108 feet.

art.marroquin@dailybreeze.com

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