American Airlines Charged Multi-Million Dollar Fine for Poor Airline Safety

As flight and airline standards become more stringent, some airlines are paying a high price to keep their business in full operation. American Airlines, the nation's largest carrier of domestic and international flights, has recently incurred a $7 million fine after failing to meet drug-testing and safety standards. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reports that American Airlines allowed thousands of passengers to fly on unsafe airliners even after safety problems were reported. By delaying repair on some of its key aircraft and allowing pilots to continue flying unsafe planes, the airline was deemed a hazard and was guilty of violating federal regulations.

American Airlines was fully aware of the repair needed on two of its MD-80s, but continued to operate them and thereby violated FAA standards. This put both the crew and passengers at risk, and the FAA has imposed the heavy fine to as part of its regulatory plan. The FAA discovered the violations in during its standard testing and evaluation protocol in late 2007, and instructed American Airlines to fix the problem. However, a few incidents that stemmed from these violations led the FAA to re-inspect the aircraft where they soon discovered that the problems had not been addressed. Some of the key problems including mechanical failure, faulty radio altimeters and a radio disconnection of the pilot during flight.

Still, American Airlines released a statement to contest the charges, claiming that the fine is excessive and that they do not agree with the FAA's action on the issue. American Airlines reportedly completes over 60,000 flights every month, and the inspections are part of daily and monthly protocol for all airlines. Failure to meet FAA guidelines and instructions leads to fines and fees that often cost an airline millions of dollars in fees, charges and initiate a negative track record of inspection reports.

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