American grounds 200 flights in Dallas and Chicago

The Associated Press reports American Airlines has canceled approximately 200 flights out of Dallas-Ft. Worth and Chicago O’Hare for inspection of “wire bundles” on its MD-80 airplanes.

While airline reps wouldn’t comment on the function of the wire bundles, the action resulted from a joint audit by the airline and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). American plans to reintroduce each airplane back into the fleet once its inspection is completed.

Given Southwest’s recent [% 2525500 | | safety snafus %], and now this debacle, I expect we’ll see similar delays and cancellations as each airline strives to meet safety standards, plane by plane, route by route. And while this may be a headache in the short term, wouldn’t you rather have such errors caught on the ground, pre-flight, rather than in the air?