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Friday, September 04, 2009

American Airlines in Dispute with FAA: WSJ

By Dunstan Prial

FOXBusiness

_AP2007**FILE** An American Airlines McDonnell Douglas MD-82 aircraft gets ready to take off at the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, Calif. in this April 18, 2007 file photo. American Airlines parent AMR Corp. reported, Wednesday, July 18, 2007 profits were up nearly 9 percent in the second quarter as the carrier filled more seats with passengers paying higher fares. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, file)

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that a dispute is heating up between American Airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration over allegedly improper repairs to at least 16 airplanes.

According to the account in the Journal, the FAA believes one of those airplanes was taken out of circulation before government inspectors could inspect it. The paper cited as its source “people familiar with the situation.”

American Airlines is a unit of AMR Corp. (AMR)

The Journal said the FAA’s investigation began several months ago and has raised concerns over the airlines’ “willingness to properly disclose potential safety problems,” according to the newspaper’s account.

The FAA has clashed with the airline recently over maintenance issues ranging from faulty emergency slides to engine parts with the wrong coatings, according to the Journal.

An American Airlines spokesman told the Journal that the FAA has given the airline an opportunity to respond to its investigation and that the company is doing so.

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