American Airlines
- American Airlines has grounded 14 Boeing 737-800 due to poorly installed overhead bins.
- The airline found substandard work in the cabins of two Boeing 737-800s that recently received updated interiors.
- American said it decided to ground the two affected aircraft and proactively ground 12 additional aircraft that were worked on by the same vendor.
- In total, roughly 40 flights were canceled as a result of the grounded planes.
American Airlines has grounded 14 Boeing 737-800 due to poorly installed overhead bins. According to the Fort Worth, Texas-based airline, it found "issues with the quality of work conducted on overhead bins" of two Boeing 737-800s that were recently installed with updated interiors.
The work was completed by an unnamed Federal Aviation Administration-licensed vendor, American said in a statement to Business Insider. The airline said that it decided to proactively ground 12 additional 737s that were also worked on by the vendor.
"Though the issue did not impact the safety of flight of these aircraft, we are working with our vendor and the FAA to immediately address this issue," American said.
With the 14 planes grounded, the airline has been forced to cancel roughly 40 flights.
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American Airlines is in the process of updating the interiors on its fleet of 304 Boeing 737-800s. The new interiors will feature slimline seats and updated in-flight entertainment system.
The updated 737-800s will also have 12 additional seats and an inch less legroom in its economy cabin.
Here is American Airlines’s statement in its entirety:
"At American, safety is our number one priority and is always at the forefront of all that we do.
"American operates 304 Boeing 737-800 aircraft and we have identified an issue with the quality of work conducted on overhead bins on two of these Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The interiors on these aircraft were recently updated by a long-time FAA-licensed vendor.
"After further inspection by American, the work that was conducted on these two aircraft was not up to our standards. Out of an abundance of caution, we have proactively removed from service the additional 12 aircraft that were updated by this vendor and have notified the FAA. We will perform additional inspection work on these 14 aircraft. Though the issue did not impact the safety of flight of these aircraft, we are working with our vendor and the FAA to immediately address this issue.
"We never want to disrupt our customers’ travel plans, and we are sorry for the trouble this has caused. Our team has rebooked all customers that were impacted by nearly 40 flight cancellations thus far and will continue to work proactively to get our customers to their final destination."
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Source: Business Insider – bzhang@businessinsider.com (Benjamin Zhang)