Airlines cancel more flights

DALLAS -- American Airlines and Delta Air Lines canceled hundreds more flights Thursday as they kept inspecting wiring bundles on some of their planes.

American, the nation's largest airline, said it canceled 132 of its estimated 2,300 flights scheduled for Thursday. That was about 6 percent of American's Thursday schedule after the airline canceled 318 flights on Wednesday, spokesman Tim Smith said.

The carrier found seats for most passengers on other planes but also put some customers on other airlines' flights, Smith said.

Delta said it expects about 275 cancellations through early today, affecting about 3 percent of its worldwide schedule. Spokeswoman Chris Kelly said about 70 percent of its MD-88 fleet was to be inspected by early evening Thursday, with normal operations planned by early today.

Kelly said she didn't yet have estimates on how many passengers were affected.

The inspections come almost three weeks after the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a check of all U.S. airlines' maintenance records. That followed controversy over its handling of missed safety inspections at Dallas-based Southwest Airlines.

American said it began its inspections after a joint audit by its own inspectors and those from the FAA. The inspections focused on proper spacing between cords used to secure bundles of wires in the planes' auxiliary hydraulic system.

"In no way was safety compromised, but the (FAA) directive said 'Do it this way,' " Smith said.

The largest number of flight cancellations, 42, were departures from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, with 22 departures scrubbed at Chicago O'Hare, Smith said.

Delta expected heavy volumes Thursday at its hub at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Kelly said.