FAA May Ground America West

P H O E N I X, Aug. 26 -- America West planes will be grounded unless theairline proves within a week that it has completed maintenance on aquarter of its fleet, federal regulators said Friday.

It was the second time this year in which the nation’sninth-largest carrier faced disciplinary action over maintenanceissues. The Federal Aviation Administration threatened in Januaryto bar the suburban Tempe-based airline from acquiring additionalplanes until it provided adequate maintenance for the ones it had.

This time, David Gillom of the FAA told the airline by letterthat, based on an audit and review, “we have serious concernsabout American West’s continuous airworthiness maintenanceprogram.”

Overall, the airline must show it has completed the checks on 35of its 130 planes.

Airline Says It Can Answer Charges

America West President Douglas Parker and other seniorexecutives were away on a company retreat and couldn’t be reachedfor comment, but Parker issued a statement saying the airline hascompleted the required maintenance and can prove it.

However, company spokesman James Sabourin said America Westcanceled seven flights on Thursday in order to complete maintenancechecks on nine aircraft.

The FAA is auditing all nine major carriers in response to aJanuary Alaska Airlines crash that killed 88 people, which lead to areview of Alaska’s maintenance practices. Six of those audits havebeen completed.

FAA spokeswoman Diane Spitalierie said its audit of America Westfound no flight safety issues but that the agency nonethelessdoesn’t consider proper record-keeping and oversight of majormaintenance a minor issue, since those practices represent a way toprevent accidents.

History of Problems

America West has been under FAA scrutiny over maintenance formore than two years. The airline was fined $5 million in July 1998over maintenance issues that included failing to conduct requiredinspections. Half of the fine was forgiven, despite local FAAofficials’ objections.