American Airlines grounds 300 jets for safety checks

— -- American Airlines grounded 300 jets and disrupted travel for 50,000 passengers Tuesday after federal regulators found that the airline bungled inspections required to prevent fires or fuel tank explosions, according to the government and the airline.

American, the world's largest carrier, cancelled as many as 500 flights while it inspected and repaired wiring in the wheel wells of its Boeing MD-80s. The wiring is near the jet's fuel tanks.

The airline warned that disruptions could continue through Thursday. American spokesman Tim Wagner said workers were scrambling to help tens of thousands of stranded passengers.

The MD-80s represent nearly half of the airline's fleet and carry about 40% of its passengers. The airline was placing people on alternate flights or on other airlines when possible, he said.

"With 180 MD-80 flights here at (Dallas-Fort Worth Airport) alone, that means we've got about 18,000 passengers who've got to be re-accommodated," Wagner said.

American grounded the same jets briefly at the end of March but sent the planes back into the skies after assuring the Federal Aviation Administration that they had passed inspections. However, FAA inspectors checked 19 of the jets Tuesday in Dallas and Tulsa and found violations on 15, said FAA spokeswoman Diane Spitaliere. The agency did not detail what the inspections found.

The groundings were the latest triggered by a nationwide review ordered after the FAA admitted last month that Southwest Airlines flew jets that hadn't received critical safety checks.

Officials at American said their jets were grounded for "detailed, technical compliance issues and not safety-of-flight issues." Gerard Arpey, American's CEO, said the carrier has been "working in good faith to ensure that we are in complete compliance."

Bernard Loeb, the retired former chief accident investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, said that the fuel tank issues are "very serious matters."

The FAA had issued an order in 2006 for airlines to examine wires in the jet's wheel wells, where sparking had occurred. The order, known as an Airworthiness Directive, also required airlines to coat the wires with insulation to prevent fires and fuel tank explosions.