American Airlines to Fight FAA Fine of $24.4 Million

American Airlines  (NYSE:AMR) announced Friday it will fight an impending $24.2 million penalty over alleged deliberate maintenance violations on 280 of its McDonnell Douglas MD-80 jetliners.

The Federal Aviation Administration imposed the penalty, even as American Airlines maintained the work was done in a timely manner and never put in passengers at risk.

The alleged violations in question most notably resulted in nationwide flight cancellations two years ago, in which more than 300,000 American Airlines passengers were grounded. Even then, American said that the FAA acted too harshly in the grounding of the planes.