Pilots Say Carrier Has Failed... Well, Pretty Much
Everybody
"We anticipate returning to a full schedule on Monday." That
statement Friday from American Airlines no doubt comes as little
reassurance to hundreds of thousands passengers inconvenienced in
the past three days, due to the cancellation of nearly 3,000
flights for emergency inspections of its fleet of MD-80
airliners.
In an email message to previous American Airlines customers,
Marketing VP Dan Garton said the airline is really, really sorry
for the trouble.
"As one of our most valued customers, please accept my apology
on behalf of American Airlines to you, your family and your fellow
AAdvantage customers for disrupting so many peoples' lives with the
recent flight cancellations related to the inspection of our MD-80
aircraft fleet," the email missive states. "As you can imagine,
American's decision to cancel thousands of flights this week was
difficult, and it undoubtedly created concern among our best
customers -- even those who had no travel plans during the
period."
As ANN reported, American
grounded its 300-plane fleet of MD-82 and MD-83 planes last week
after FAA inspectors found prior checks for compliance with an
Airworthiness Directive, concerning wiring bundles inside the
aircrafts' maingear wells, had not fixed problems first discovered
three weeks ago.
"In 2004, American Airlines was the lead airline working with
Boeing to develop a Service Bulletin to correct wiring exposure and
chafing in the MD-80 auxiliary hydraulic pump wire bundle," Garton
said. "The concern was that exposure and chafing could cause fire
in the wheel well. An Airworthiness Directive (AD) was issued in
September 2006, giving MD-80 operators, including American, 18
months to address this issue. American completed the Service
Bulletin in November 2006, followed by adjustments deemed necessary
by American's structural engineers to comply with the AD well ahead
of a March 2008 deadline.
"In recent weeks, the Federal Aviation Administration
significantly increased its emphasis on monitoring the adherence to
Airworthiness Directives that apply to various US airlines," Garton
continued. "With respect to American Airlines' MD-80 fleet, we had
a detailed issue that we believed had to be addressed immediately
to remain compliant with the FAA; if found in non-compliance, we
would have been instructed to stop flying our airplanes."
Garton adds the FAA's findings made
it clear "there would be a high percentage of aircraft that would
not be found to be in full compliance of the Airworthiness
Directive."
In conclusion, Garton says American "will learn from this
experience, and we will get better"... but members of the Allied
Pilots Association, the union representing pilots at American, say
that's probably unlikely.
In a full-page ad entitled "Why is American Airlines Failing Its
Customers?" that ran in USA Today on Thursday, the APA -- already
locked in a contentious battle with management over contract
issues -- said no one is more disappointed in American's handling
of the MD-80 crisis, than the carrier's own employees.
"This management team is driving reliability down to a point
where it will drive customers away," APA spokesman Scott Shankland
told The Associated Press. "These guys are damaging this once-great
airline."
Not surprisingly, American Airlines spokesman John Hotard took
exception to that position. "We're disappointed that any union
would choose negative tactics in a direct attempt to harm the
company," he said. "It's energy better spent strengthening the
company."
'Negative tactics' or no, one thing is clear to disgruntled
American Airlines passengers: someone screwed up royally... and
when the dust has settled, someone's gonna have to pay.
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