American Airlines 'normal again'

American Airlines says that its flight schedules are back to normal after a week of cancellations.

More than 3,000 flights have been cancelled as the airline has been forced to ground its MD-80 aircraft for wiring inspections.

The Federal Aviation Administration has been clamping down on inspections and several airlines have grounded planes.

American Airlines has apologised to customers and offered refunds and compensation to those affected.

WEEK OF CANCELLATIONS

• Tuesday 460 flights
• Wednesday 1,094 flights
• Thursday 930 flights
• Friday 595 flights
• Saturday 200 flights

Full responsibility

American grounded all 300 of its mid-range MD-80 aircraft on Tuesday to inspect the wiring in the wheel wells.

It has been gradually returning them to service since then.

The airline's chief executive has taken full responsibility for the groundings and will hire a consultant to help it comply with Federal Aviation Authority safety rules in future.

He said that the groundings will cost the airline tens of millions of dollars.

The FAA has been tightening up its inspections since admitting that it was too lax with Southwest Airlines last year.

The US House of Representatives' Transportation Committee discovered that fuselage cracks on Southwest planes had gone undetected due to missed inspections.

RELATED INTERNET LINKS
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Delta Air Lines
Alaska Airlines
Midwest Airlines
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