American Cancels Over 1,000 Flights Due to Safety Concerns

American Airlines canceled more than 1,000 flights Wednesday -more than one-third of its schedule- as it spent a second straight day inspecting the wiring on some of its jets, the same issue that caused the nation’s biggest airline to scrub hundreds of flights two weeks ago.

American canceled nearly 500 flights on Tuesday, stranding hundreds of passengers. Federal inspectors found problems with wiring work done two weeks ago, although the airline says safety was never jeopardized.

Tim Wagner, a spokesman for American, said cancellations could continue beyond today as the airline works on its MD-80 jets.

American uses the MD-80s mostly on mid-range flights, particularly from hub airports in Dallas and Chicago. Wagner said 208 of Wednesday’s cancellations were to occur at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and 138 at Chicago O’Hare.

It was American’s second bout with mass cancellations in less than two weeks for failing to meet the same wiring rules set by the Federal Aviation Administration, which is cracking down on airlines after admitting its inspectors were too lax last year with Southwest Airlines Co.

Since the FAA began looking more closely at airlines’ compliance with safety directives, there have been cancellations at Southwest, Delta Air Lines Inc. and UAL Corp.’s United Airlines. The agency levied a $10.2 million civil penalty against Southwest for using planes that had missed inspections for cracks in the fuselage.

The cancellations and resulting loss of revenue could hardly come at a worse time for American, which is facing high fuel prices and a weakening economy that could hurt demand for travel.

AMR is scheduled to report first-quarter earnings in two weeks, and analysts are forecasting a loss of more than $300 million, according to a survey by Thomson Financial.