Delta's turn to cancel flights for safety inspections
27 Mar 2008
After American Airlines this week, and Southwest Airlines before that, it is now the turn of Delta Air Lines to cancel flights, and likely ground its aircraft, as engineers inspect two types of aircraft in its fleet. Delta said that it would decide on Thursday if it was going to cancel more flights.
Delta's cancellations follow those of American Airlines, which cancelled 200 flights because of safety inspections. While American was examining the wiring on its MD-80 aircraft, Delta accepted a Federal Aviation Administration advisory and began inspections of 117 MD-88 and 16 MD-90 aircraft.
The airline says the checks are voluntary and are expected to be completed by week's end.
The MD-80 forms the backbone of American's fleet, accounting for 300 of the airline's fleet of 655 jets.
A product of McDonnell-Douglas, production of the aircraft was discontinued in 1999, two years after
the firm was purchased by Boeing in 1997.