AMR cancels flights, Delta begins new checks

By John Crawley

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - AMR Corp (AMR.N), parent of American Airlines, took 80 planes out of service and canceled 300 flights on Wednesday after reinspecting wiring on MD-series aircraft, while Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL.N) began similar checks on 133 planes, the carriers said.

It was unclear if there would be service disruptions on Thursday at American. Delta said some cancellations were expected but was not more specific.

Tim Wagner, a spokesman for American, said the reinspection at American was not related to any specific safety incident but to an industrywide safety audit launched last week by the Federal Aviation Administration. "This is related to the audit," Wagner said.

The FAA audit is to assess airline compliance with agency directives, most of which require aircraft inspections.

Some in Congress have sharply criticized FAA oversight of its own orders and a system that allows airlines to self-report problems to regulators. Maintenance lapses by Southwest Airlines (LUV.N) in 2006-07 that were revealed recently triggered the audit as well as investigations by Congress and the U.S. Transportation Department inspector general.

American began reinspections Tuesday night on nearly 300 MD-80 series aircraft. The narrow body planes are a workhorse at the carrier's Dallas and Chicago hubs.

The checks assessed whether American followed all procedures of a 2006 FAA order to ensure that wiring for an auxiliary hydraulic pump was properly installed and secured.

The directive, affecting more than 730 aircraft in the U.S. commercial fleet, was aimed at preventing electrical shorts that could trigger a fire in the wheel well, a copy of the order showed.

In some cases, airlines were to install additional protection around wire bundles.

Wagner said 80 planes were parked for closer checks or specific work. Planes were immediately returned to service once the inspections and related fixes, if necessary, were completed. The airline wound up canceling about 300 flights, slightly more than 10 percent of mainline operations.

In response to developments at American and after consulting the FAA, Delta began voluntary checks of its own MD-series planes -- 117 MD-88s and 16 MD-90s.

As of Wednesday night, Delta had not found any problems.

Under the FAA audit, safety inspectors are looking at airline compliance with 10 safety directives. The directives vary, depending on what type of aircraft is flown. The first reports on airline compliance are due at the end of the week.

FAA spokeswoman Alison Duquette said preliminary results showed a "high rate of compliance."

United Airlines, a unit of UAL Corp (UAUA.O) grounded seven Boeing Co (BA.N) 747s last week to retest altitude indicators. United said no problems were found and the unscheduled checks were unrelated to the FAA audit.