American Airlines Could be Fined a Record $162.4 Million by the FAA
American Airlines could be fined over $160 million by the FAA for maintenance violations
American Airlines could have a record $162.4 million in fines levied against them by the FAA for multiple violations according to court documents in the airline’s bankruptcy case.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirms it has filed the claims in court to ensure that the government was paid along with other creditors in AMR’s restructuring.
“The documents detail both proposed and potential civil penalties in connection with ongoing enforcement cases involving both American Airlines and American Eagle,” the agency said in its statement. “Because these cases remain open, the FAA cannot discuss the details of the individual investigations.”
Separate cases could yield fines as large as $39.3 million for allegedly not fixing wiring on Boeing 757s, $28.8 million for landing gear issues on 777s and $27.6 million involving 767 engines, the Wall Street Journal reported last night.
Th largest fine to date was also imposed on American by the FAA in 2010 for $24.2 million for maintenance lapses on some of the carrier’s MD-80 fleet that saw those aircraft grounded. That case has yet to be settled.
American is aware of the latest fine. Michael Trevino, a spokesman for AMR, said in a statement:
“The claims process is a routine part of any Chapter 11 filing,” Trevino said. “It is not an admission that money is owed, nor is it an admission that the amount cited is correct.”
Category: Airnation
Comments (6)
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Hi All;
The phrase “pouring water on a drowning man” has a new meaning with these FAA fines.
FAA does very few inspections on overseas maintenance facilities. FAA has much easier access to American’s maintenance facilities here because American “did” most of it’s heavy maintenance in the USA.
In 2008 FAA management rescinded a letter of agreement pertaining to wire bundle inspections of MD-80 Aircraft. It seems that the wire bundle ties were not the required “ONE INCH” separation that was required. The ties were 1/4 of an inch over spaced. Technically incorrect, however it did not at anytime cause a safety issue.
(see link)
http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/modern/md80-wiring-explained-12833.html
American worked out a letter of agreement with FAA management to correct this problem “a few aircraft” at a time during each aircraft’s next major inspection cycle. (this was good for all)
Now here is the FAA political machine! Caught misleading…. Congress during the Southwest Airlines hearing in 2008. The FAA management was “embarrassed” and “MAD” at Congress, so they decided to rescind this important letter of agreement and ground hundreds of MD-80 Aircraft. This effectively grounded hundreds of American Airline MD-80′s stranding 250,000 people and costing American Airlines 30 MILLION dollars!
(Please see Congressional Letter:)
UDPxJYY99uWLeAiiXvwJEt9OD-JIZMpSldXhymNbdKtdzUVHHhz5X0aOfewNcA-3r5fyq7ZfxkJyBRLtJVDsxOUb1fw&sig=AHIEtbQiamVe1nNxPsOY5kldamvlWWQtvA
As A former FAA Inspector, I have witnessed this disgusting corruption from am agency that no longer protects the American people!
Strong words in deed but please look at these attached links and tell me it isn’t so?!
As Ed and I know FAA is out of control with inept agenda orientated management.
Richard Wyeroski
FAA Whistleblowers Alliance
Hi All:
(Sorry here is the Congressional letter link to FAA management)
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:iRNX1j6Aa2AJ:boardingarea.com/blogs/joesharkey/files/2008/04/jlo_jfc_pad-ltr-to-faa-on-4_9_08-safety-oversight-hearing.pdf+%22nicholas+Sabatini+LETTER+CHIEF+COUNSEL%27S+OFFICE&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShCtGx-q_hYBIIoJdFuH0MO-yqTI2nzdaoDmGE7wCL38UDPxJYY99uWLeAiiXvwJEt9OD-JIZMpSldXhymNbdKtdzUVHHhz5X0aOfewNcA-3r5fyq7ZfxkJyBRLtJVDsxOUb1fw&sig=AHIEtbQiamVe1nNxPsOY5kldamvlWWQtvA
I must admit i have limited knowledge in this particular case with AA, but the fines seem a little drastic. Talk about kicking a guy who’s already down… But, if AA did in fact violate some AD’s and were aware of what they were doing, i guess they should have seen this coming…?
Poor AA- this can’t be helping them get back in order. For some reason, i can only see the passengers suffering as a result of this. How come whenever something like this happens it always trickles down to the flyer? Higher fares, less money available for aircraft maintenance, improperly compensated pilots, tired crews… the list goes on. When an airline has to pay ridiculous amounts of money like this, they pass the debt to the passengers. It’s a shame.
Thanks Richard! Clearly this is a technical filing in case the FAA would like to be a creditor should AA go totally belly up. It also seems to be a technical finding and one that AA could fight if they chose to, since real safety does not seem to have been affected. I also agree there are probably far worse cases of maintenance in overseas carriers than in AA. Will be good to keep standards really high though – there are not many options once the aircraft is beyond a few km of the airport when things go wrong.
Ronnie:
The sad part is FAA has allowed hundreds of “third world” Maintenance Repair and Overhaul MRO’S facilities to be set up that literally destroyed American MRO’s by unfair pricing competition.
The FAA also had no budget to properly do surveillance on these facilities. Had done so, these fine would be against these facilities
criminal, so a few bad FAA apples could line their pockets!
Rich