Recently a large number of flights in America were cancelled and caused chaos to the many commuters and holidaymakers. The number of cancellations skyrocketed into the 1000s as the Federal Aviation Authority ordered many airlines to not allow flights to leave due to concerns over safety.
The safety concerns are not about terrorism for once; instead they are being scrutinized over structuring, wiring and electronics. The inspections have been conducted upon main airlines such as Alaska, Delta, Southwest and American Airlines, all being popular airlines which has left many people all packed up and nowhere to go.
The inspections are expected to run until the 30th June, with a hope to be completed before the many tourists arrive during summer holidays. An FAA spokeswoman said that they could not rule out further cancelled flights and many people who are already booked for flights have a daunting task of changing flight providers which has proved a troublesome task in the past.
The worst hit airports were Dallas-Fort Worth, O'Hare in Chicago and La Guardia in New York. Flights from these airports suffered large delays and many cancelled flights. The FAA is not doing this as a inconvenience either, the integrity of airlines has come in to question especially since nine MD-80 jets failed tests last week and resulted in more than 2,000 planes being grounded.
The reasoning behind these added checks is due to members of Congress laying more scrutiny on the airline industry. In recent years the safety of airlines has obviously been questioned and so further inspections have been conducted in hand with the added security on passengers.
The result of these groundings has seen the FAA recommend $10.4 million fine against one of the main flight companies. The prospect of these fines and the renewed interest in airline safety is what is forcing flights operators to ground flights. One other concern is that if airlines get fined then they are likely to pass on this overhead to the customer which may spell the end of the cheap flights we've been enjoying for the past few years. Whilst this episode is expected to end in a few months the cost that airlines may incur may not look good for those of us who regularly fly with them.
