The FAA wants to slap American Airlines with a $24.2 million civil penalty, the largest ever proposed by the agency, for failing to heed an FAA directive and operating planes when they did not meet federal regulations.
The agency said American has since done the work necessary to comply with a directive requiring the inspection of wire bundles in the wheel wells of MD-80 aircraft. The airline's alleged violation of the directive occurred in March and April 2008.
American said it will challenge the proposed penalty.
In a statement, American said, "These events happened more than two years ago, and we believe this action is unwarranted. We plan to follow the FAA’s process and will challenge any proposed civil penalty. We are confident we have a strong case and the facts will bear this out."
The FAA's directive required a one-time general visual inspection by March 5, 2008, for chafing or signs of arcing of the wire bundle for the auxiliary hydraulic pump. It also required operators to make changes identified by the manufacturer.
The directive’s purpose "was to prevent the shorting of wires or arcing at the auxiliary hydraulic pump, which could result in loss of auxiliary hydraulic power or a fire in the wheel well of the aircraft," the FAA said.
The directive also sought to reduce the potential for a fire by removing a potential spark source near the fuel tanks, which "in combination with the flammable vapors could result in a fuel tank explosion," said the agency.
The FAA said it first detected the violations on March 25, 2008, during an inspection of two aircraft. The agency told American that the aircraft did not comply with the directive, prompting a series of re-inspections and additional maintenance work during the following two weeks.
The FAA found seven aircraft violated the directive March 26 at American’s maintenance base in Tulsa, Okla. It discovered the violation on eight MD-80 aircraft at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on April 7.
American began temporarily grounding its MD-80 fleet on April 8, 2008, to conduct new inspections and redo work as required.
The grounding resulted in more than 3,000 flight cancellations and cost American "tens of millions of dollars" CEO Gerard Arpey said at the time.
The FAA subsequently determined that "286 of the airline’s MD-80s were operated on a combined 14,278 passenger flights while the aircraft were not in compliance with federal regulations," the agency said.
Over the last 18 months, FAA safety officials have reported progress in working with American to "help improve the airline’s maintenance culture," the agency said.
This report was updated Thursday afternoon to add a comment from American Airlines.