Are other airlines canceling flights for safety concerns?
Yes. Alaska, Allegiant Air, Delta and Midwest Airlines also use MD-80s. All of them have canceled flights to check on the wheel-well wiring. Southwest Airlines previously grounded planes to check on fatigue cracking in its fleet of 737s. The company says it now has no related delays or cancellations. And United voluntarily canceled flights earlier in April to check the fire-suppression system on its 777s. Are American’s canceled flights causing a “domino effect” of delays and cancellations? No. But a spokesman says Southwest has seen a spike in last-minute bookings — likely from people whose flights were canceled by other carriers. And even though it filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday, Denver-based Frontier Airlines still expects to operate normally, with no cancellations. Are flights in other countries also being affected? “At this point, it doesn’t appear to be a widespread problem abroad,” says Marisa Thompson, an equity analyst for Morningstar. “The foreign carriers, from wh
