American Grounds More Flights

The airline said it should have 60% of its MD-80 schedule on track by late Friday.
By TSC Staff ,

American Airlines said it had cancelled another 595 flights on Friday, as it continues to work through safety inspections of its fleet of MD-80 jets.

The latest cancelations bring American's total number of grounded flights to more than 3,000 since Tuesday, after the airline

was forced to comply

with the Federal Aviation Administration safety standards for bundling wires in the right wheel well of the planes. MD-80s make up more than half of American's fleet.

AMR

(AMR)

, American's parent company, said it had 226 of its 300 MD-80s in service early Friday. It was operating about 50% of its MD-80 schedule at that time and expected to have that up to 60% by 4 p.m. Central Daylight Time.

The company said customers on affected flights can apply for a full refund or apply the value of their ticket to a future flight.

The current maintenance controversy and stricter rules have also resulted in flights being canceled for inspections at

Delta

(DAL) - Get Report

,

Southwest

(LUV) - Get Report

and

UAL's

(UAUA)

United, as well as several smaller airlines.

This article was written by a staff member of TheStreet.com.

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