More audits may cancel future flights

By Ja’Rena Lunsford

Published: March 28, 2008

Although the Federal Aviation Administration expects to complete a round of commercial carrier audits today, more rounds are to come — which could mean more cancellations are not far behind.

"It's going to continue into the summer,” FAA spokesman Roland Herwig said of the audits. The FAA expects to have the full audit completed by June 30.

The audits are a way for the FAA to ensure airlines are complying with airworthiness directives, a legally enforceable rule issued by the FAA to correct unsafe conditions.

"Sometimes a safety issue has nothing to do with what's on the aircraft,” Herwig said. "It can be a bookkeeping matter.”

Herwig said the audits are an ongoing process, which may require airlines to pull aircraft out of service for a period of time.

"I expect there to continue to be spaces of time where the aircraft will have to be re-inspected,” he said.

Many travelers began seeing the impact of audits earlier this week when American Airlines canceled 318 flights to inspect its MD-80 aircraft fleet. Delta Air Lines followed suit Thursday when the Atlanta-based airline canceled 275 flights to inspect its fleet of 117 MD-88 aircraft.

Both Delta and American Airlines' issue on their MD-80 series centered around ensuring the wire bundling on the aircraft was properly taped and spaced.

Boeing spokeswoman Liz Verdier said it's important the public know that this is not an MD-80 issue, but instead a look at the safety of all aircraft.

"Aviation is one of the most highly regulated industries that we have,” Verdier said.

The MD-80 has been in service since 1980. With 300 MD-80s, American has the aircraft's largest fleet.

By Thursday afternoon, American Airlines had completed inspections and necessary modifications on 90 percent of its MD-80s, airline spokesman Tim Wagner said. The airline expected to complete the remaining inspections later that evening. Delta also expected to finish its inspections Thursday.

Although American Airlines and Delta had a combined total of 416 cancellations nationwide Thursday, Oklahoma remained mostly unaffected by the situation.

Will Rogers World Airport spokeswoman Jennifer James McCollum said an inbound Delta flight was canceled Wednesday night and the carrier had an outbound cancellation Thursday morning.

Delta spokesman Anthony Black said the airline did not expect any further cancellations at Will Rogers.

Tulsa International Airport spokeswoman Alexis Higgins said since Delta does not fly the MD-80 in or out of Tulsa, the airport was not impacted by Thursday's cancellations.

"Oklahoma City and San Antonio are the farthest west we fly the MD-88,” Black said. Delta serves Tulsa with a regional jet.

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