FAA proposes record $24.2 million fine against American Airlines

The Federal Aviation Administration yesterday proposed a huge civil penalty of $24.2 million against American Airlines for maintenance violations involving its fleet of MD-80 aircraft. The FAA charged that American failed to correctly follow an Airworthiness Directive (AD) from 2006 requiring inspection of wire bundles that are located in the wheel wells of the aircraft. Corrective action was also required if problems were found, but American did not comply.

March 25, 2008 was the first time that the violations were detected during a routine FAA inspection of two aircraft. American was informed that the two MD-80s did not comply with the AD and that repairs needed to be made. A day later during an inspection at the airline's Tulsa maintenance base it was determined that seven of eight additional MD-80s did not comply as well. On April 7, 2008 nine more aircraft out of ten inspected also were out of compliance. The next day American began grounding its fleet of MD-80s to conduct more inspections and redo required work.

As the FAA continued its investigation into American's MD-80 fleet, the agency determined that 14,278 flights were operated on 286 aircraft while they were not in compliance with the directive. FAA safety officials say that progress is being made to improve 'the airline's maintenance culture', and that work in this regard is continuing.

American Airlines has 30 days to respond to the FAA civil penalty letter. The carrier is the second largest U.S. airline after Delta Air Lines, and is based in Fort Worth, Texas. American's MD-80s are frequent visitors at MSP, flying non-stop to Chicago O'Hare and Dallas/Fort Worth.