American Airlines has canceled 300 flights nationwide through the weekend as it works to make sure it has enough planes and people available for scheduled flights.
A "significant increase" in maintenance write-ups for aircraft is creating a backlog of planes sidelined for inspections, troubleshooting and repairs, spokesman Bruce Hicks said.And at least some of those write-ups might be traced to the carrier's dispute with its pilots, who have rejected a final contract offer. Afterward, a bankruptcy court gave American permission to impose cost cutting and productivity increasing measures.Tom Hoban, spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, told Bloomberg News that because of the dispute, pilots were carefully noting issues to be addressed before planes can fly again."When you've lost your operating handbook for the airline that governs, in part, how we perform our duties, that uncertainty is going to cause pilots to take a more prudent approach to their operational duties," Hoban said. "You're going to dot your i's, cross your t's and fly by the book in that regard."Hicks said Thursday that American's reservations agents had been calling and rebooking travelers scheduled to fly on the canceled flights."We've made some very selective cancellations" to match the number of flights, aircraft and flight crews in the coming days, Hicks said.Those are on top of 250 flights canceled Friday through Monday, and the airline's previously announced plans to cut capacity through October by about 2 percent.Hicks said that he did not know the number of flights out of Dallas/Fort Worth that had been canceled but that the cutbacks would be proportional to the capacity at American's five domestic hubs."Our mechanics are doing a fabulous job working these write-ups and getting planes back in service and making sure they're safe."The flight cuts come as American is working to implement contract changes with all of its unionized employees.Bob Cox, 817-390-7723Twitter: @bobcoxictHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
