AMR cancels 1,094 flights for inspections

By Kyle Peterson

CHICAGO (Reuters) - American Airlines cancelled 1,094 flights, or nearly half its schedule, on Wednesday to reinspect aircraft, a disruption that affected about 100,000 passengers and triggered chaos at the busiest U.S. airports.

The airline said it expects more than 900 cancellations on Thursday.

The disruption at the No. 1 domestic airline, a unit of AMR Corp, follows 460 cancellations on Tuesday and hundreds of cancellations two weeks ago. The March disruption was for the same reason as this week's problem -- to ensure compliance with a Federal Aviation Administration safety directive on wiring inspections for MD-80 aircraft.

"We have obviously failed to comply with the airworthiness directive to the precise standards that the FAA requires," AMR (AMR.N) Chief Executive Gerard Arpey said at a news conference in Los Angeles. "I take full personal responsibility."

Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL.N) cancelled about two dozen flights on Wednesday and Alaska Airlines, 14, to address the same situation on their MD-80s. Delta cancelled hundreds of flights at the same time as American in late March.

Dan Garton, American's marketing chief, told reporters in a conference call the carrier hoped to have full operations by Saturday. "We're working hard to get the airline back to normal," Garton said.

Airline officials could not estimate the hit financially but Arpey said the episode would be "costly." A spokesman estimated about 100,000 passengers were affected by the 1,094 cancellations.

Shares of AMR fell more than 11 percent in regular trade, outpacing losses by stocks of other U.S. airlines. However, AMR gained about a third of that back after-hours to $9.51.