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Mar 27, 2008 12:03 pm US/Central
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More Cancellations For American, Delta
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
Add Delta to the list of airlines grounding flights for safety inspections. Delta Air Lines expects to cancel about 275 flights nationwide from now through Friday morning.
Crews are re-inspecting the wiring on its MD-88 and MD-90 aircraft. About 70 percent of the planes should be done by Thursday evening and officials hoped to return to a normal schedule by early Friday.
Meantime, CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman reports that American Airlines is cancelling more flights Thursday.
For the most part at O'Hare International Airport Thursday morning, things were slowly but surely clearing up.
On Wednesday, American cancelled 318 flights nationwide, including about 70 at O'Hare. On Thursday, another 132 flights were cancelled, including 22 at O'Hare. American hoped to be back on a normal schedule on Friday, but that was little consolation to travelers whose flights were cancelled Thursday.
Imagine packing your bags and then finding out when you get to the airport that you have no place to go. It happened not once, not twice, but three times to the Lopez family trying to fly to Mexico.
Fernando Lopez said, "We're supposed to fly from Chicago to Tucson; three hours (flying time) and it has been two days."
It's all because American temporarily grounded its fleet of MD-80 jets to re-inspect bundles of wires in the wheel wells.
DePaul University aviation expert Joseph Schwieterman said, "We can see airline management knows this is a high stakes game. If they see a problem, they've got to be proactive. There's a lot of bad press, there's damage control, there's huge fines from the federal government if they let things slip."
"There's more of this to come. An old fleet like this, we're going to see these kinds of painful decisions. For passengers at the airport, it adds a new uncertainty to the traveling experience, so we could see more large scale disruptions," Schwieterman added.
Traveler Robin Zacher said, "I'd prefer not to crash so I guess we're okay that it's cancelled … but would like to find some kind of alternative accommodations."
Traveler Kathi Grau understands, to a point. "You'd rather be safe, I just feel like they could have given people some warning, that's all. I mean there was no method of telling you." American Airlines said it did try to call passengers whose flights were cancelled, but Grau got no such call.
Grau got some good news on Thursday, though. After being sidelined on Wednesday, she had a plane to catch Thursday.
Barbara Zasueta thought she did too. She was stranded in Chicago overnight and returned to O'Hare Thursday with high hopes of returning to San Diego. But while she spoke with CBS 2 she found out her flight had been cancelled again.
American said it is doing its best to rebook passengers on other flights.
The inspections come almost three weeks after the FAA ordered a check of all U.S. airlines' maintenance records. That was after controversy erupted over its handling of missed safety inspections at Dallas-based Southwest Airlines.
Two weeks ago, Southwest grounded 41 aircraft after a federal probe showed they had cracks in the fuselage. Southwest was fined $10.2 million and the investigation continues.
The FAA has said that it would check compliance with at least 10 safety orders, called airworthiness directives, at every airline by March 28. The agency said a full audit covering at least 10 percent of all safety directives will be finished by June 30.
Southwest said it reported the missed inspections itself, and that manufacturer Boeing agreed that keeping the planes in operation until they could be re-examined within 10 days didn't pose a safety hazard. Six of the jets required repairs for small cracks. Those repairs have been completed and the planes returned to service, Southwest spokeswoman Marilee McKinnis said Thursday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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