Air safety regulators plan to seek a record fine of at least $25 million against American Airlines for maintenance lapses that led to widespread flight cancellations in the spring of 2008, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The fine would follow what the newspaper described as “two years of bad blood” between the Federal Aviation Administration and American, which at one point ordered an FAA inspector off company property.
The FAA has not made a final decision, but an industry official said the agency is definitely “focused on numbers in the ballpark of $25 million and up.”
The penalty would be nearly three times as large as any fine levied by the FAA.
The airline’s mechanics improperly repaired electrical wiring in April 2008, forcing the grounding of 300 jets for several days. The FAA determined that the company made about 15,000 flights before the problems were finally corrected.
Officials say the maintenance errors could have led to fires or fuel-tank explosions. American insists the lapses were minor and posed no risk to passengers, and that the quality of its maintenance exceeds that of other carriers.
On Friday, in a separate announcement, American Airlines’ mechanics union threatened to withdraw from the FAA’s aviation safety program, alleging that federal officials investigated workers in 16 cases after they self-reported safety violations, according to The Dallas Morning News.
The safety program guarantees immunity from punishment to airline workers who report safety hazards to the FAA, but agency spokeswoman Lynn Lunsford said the 16 cases did not meet the program criteria, which exclude reports that involve falsification, intentional misconduct or use of drugs or alcohol.
