American will cancel more flights

American Airlines will cancel about 570 of Friday’s flights as the world’s largest carrier continues its weeklong struggle with aircraft safety inspections.

Today, the carrier scrubbed over 930 flights nationwide — including 16 that were to depart from Logan International Airport.

That followed 1,094 cancellations on Wednesday and 460 on Tuesday as the carrier grounded all 300 of its Boeing MD-80s in order to inspect a cord that is lashed around a bundle of wires in the wheel shaft. The inspections have disrupted the travel plans of more than 171,000 American Airlines passengers this week.

MD-80s comprise 45 percent of the airline’s 655-aircraft fleet.

The Federal Aviation Administration requires that the lashes be spaced no more than 1 inch apart and face in the same direction. If installed incorrectly, the cord could chafe the wires and cause the plane to lose auxiliary hydraulic power for the landing gear or spark a fire near the fuel tanks.

The FAA said it will be checking airlines’ compliance with its requirements through June 30, and as a result, travelers can expect more disruptions.

American’s chief executive, Gerard Arpey, told reporters the airline has not found chafed wires in the 100 planes that it had completed inspections on this week.

Arpey refrained from giving a date when American’s schedules would return to normal.
‘‘Obviously, it’s going to take us several more days to get up to speed,’’ he said.

Even when all of the MD-80s, which are the oldest type of aircraft in American’s six-model fleet, are ready to take off again, some passengers may find themselves holding tickets to nowhere.

‘‘The more cancellations you have, the more crews are out of sequence and the harder it is to restart it,’’ said Thomas J. Kinton Jr., chief executive of the Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs Logan.

Yesterday’s 16 canceled departures at Logan prevented about 1,600 passengers from flying to Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, or St. Louis. Roughly the same number of American flights and passengers from those three destinations did not arrive at Logan.

Logan has not been affected as much as other airports because it is not a hub. Cancellations at some airports have left scores of travelers stranded in terminals or sent them to nearby hotels for overnight stays the airline is paying for.

This is the second round of mass cancellations by American. Two weeks ago, the carrier canceled flights to inspect the same cord. This week, the airline grounded planes to do a more comprehensive inspection.

While American is offering full refunds or rebooking passengers on its own or its competitors’ later flights, the situation still stinks for travelers.

‘‘I’m quite upset by it,’’ said Drew C. Bililies, president of Alternative Leisure Co., a Bedford tour group catering to disabled adults. Thirteen of his customers paid $1,499 for an all-inclusive, four-day Memphis vacation that was supposed to kick off with a tour of Graceland.

But American scratched their 6 a.m. flight out of Logan. They were lucky to snag seats on a 3 p.m. American Eagle flight, but that required a three-hour layover in New York.

Bililies said he deserves compensation. ‘‘We’re missing a day of fun,’’ he said.
(Nicole C. Wong and Paul Makishima, Globe staff)