Thousands in limbo after American Airlines grounds MD-80s for inspection

Tens of thousands of airline passengers scrambled to rearrange travel plans Wednesday as American Airlines grounded its fleet of Boeing MD-80s to comply with a federal inspection order.

Among Sacramento's stranded, Steve Murphey, a Dallas wine salesman. He was supposed to board a 2:05 p.m. flight home Wednesday after a business trip with five colleagues to the Napa Valley.

"Right now, we're just in limbo," Murphey said. "We don't know what's going to happen."

Murphey figured that, after federal regulators fined Southwest Airlines for failing to make inspections, other carriers might get hit as well. Yet, Wednesday's delays came as a shock, he said.

Ticket agents were trying to help reroute his group through Seattle, he said, but prospects for a quick return seemed dim.

American canceled more than 1,000 flights, roughly a third of its daily schedule, and hundreds more are anticipated today and Friday. It was the second straight day that airline officials grounded flights to inspect wiring in the wheel wells of some jets – the same issue that caused it to scrub hundreds of flights two weeks ago.

Inspections and maintenance are becoming central issues for the aging fleets flown by American and other domestic carriers, some experts said. The airlines scaled back on buying new aircraft as they tried to recover from the devastating losses they suffered in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Just as their fortunes began to improve, the cost of their fuel shot up and, more recently, a credit crunch has consumers thinking twice about travel.

"The aircraft are much older than anyone anticipated, and the age is finally catching up to the fleet," said Melinda Laubach, senior research engineer at the National Institute of Aviation Research at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kan.

Fort Worth-based American has the most MD-80s of any airline with nearly 300, and many of them have been in the air since the 1980s. The last production model rolled off the assembly floor in 1999, the first in 1980.

Pablo Spiller, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business, has tracked the evolution of the U.S. airline industry since it was deregulated more than 20 years ago. He said he wouldn't be surprised to see personnel changes after the recent spate of cancellations.

"Maintenance issues … have not been properly addressed. The repercussions of this aren't easy," he said. "To shut down half of your fleet is a major breakdown in management. I would expect there could be some kind of managerial shake-up."

Shares of American parent AMR Inc. dropped $1.15 to $9.17 in trading Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

Wednesday's cancellations were the latest in a steady drumbeat of bad news for airlines. Dallas-based Southwest canceled hundreds of flights to check fuselage cracks last month.

Last week, in hearings before Congress, whistle-blowers alleged that the Federal Aviation Administration had too cozy a relationship with the airlines and wasn't forcing them to do inspections or maintenance on time.

In the midst of these regulatory troubles, three airlines – Aloha, ATA and Skybus – have shown that the industry is not over its financial struggles as they announced plans to cease operations.

"It's my own feeling that the U.S. airline system is broken," said Donna L. Hoffman, co-director of the University of California, Riverside's Sloan Center for Internet Retailing.

Hoffman spoke late Wednesday afternoon from an American Airlines plane bound for Boston from Los Angeles International Airport, smack-dab in the center of the same traveling ordeal that snared thousands Wednesday.

Her original flight from Los Angeles-Ontario International Airport at 9 a.m. had been canceled, so she made a hurried drive to LAX and joined others in a long wait to board the Boston flight at 5 p.m.

Throughout, she said, the stranded were taking the delays calmly. She saw it as a telling sign: "That the consumer was taking it in stride, in a way is really sad. It's 'Here we go again.' "

Any passengers who have flights booked on American should contact the airline immediately. The FAA's heightened vigilance likely means that other airlines and passengers will see further delays.

All American flight were canceled at Sacramento International Airport on Wednesday, and the pain could continue today, airport officials said.

At San Francisco International Airport, officials confirmed that five scheduled arrivals and seven departures were canceled Wednesday. About 32 American Airlines flights head in and out of San Francisco daily, airport spokesman Michael McCarron said.

The story was much the same at Oakland, Reno-Tahoe and Mineta San Jose International airports, where cancellations were the order of the day.

"We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused our customers," Gerard Arpey, American Airlines' chairman and chief executive officer, said in a prepared statement.

American officials said the carrier would compensate customers who stayed overnight in a location away from their final destination. That's what happened to the wine sales people from the Dallas area.

By 4 p.m. Wednesday, American had arranged to get Murphey's group into a Sacramento hotel and booked on a flight for this morning to Seattle – aboard an Alaska Airlines MD-80, Murphey said.

He hoped to touch down in Dallas by 7:30 p.m. today, but his recent experience left him leery and weary.

"I'm optimistic, but not convinced," he said.

About the writer:

• Call The Bee's Darrell Smith, (916) 321-1040. The Bee's Bill Lindelof and Jim Downing contributed to this report.