American Airlines late Thursday grounded 48 of its Boeing 757s for a second time after determining more repairs were needed to keep passenger seats from coming loose.
American spokeswoman Andrea Huguely said repairs would be completed by Saturday but that passengers on some flights would be delayed and that some flights would be canceled until then.
The announcement came hours after the airline said it had completed inspections on the 48 planes and had made all necessary repairs to fix the problem.
On Monday, American grounded the planes after seats came loose on two of them on three separate flights in the last week. Two flights had to make emergency landings.
Inspectors found that the seats were improperly locked into the floor of the aircraft. Repairs were made, the airline said, and the planes were allowed to fly.
But on Thursday, Huguely said, the planes needed to be fixed again when they landed at their next stop so seats wouldn't come loose again.
David Campbell, American's vice president of safety, said inspectors figured out the cause of the problem: Age and liquid from spilled beverages had worn out the locking mechanism that secures the seats to the planes' floors. The latest round of repairs should solve the problem, he said. "It gives us a great deal of confidence that it won't happen again," he says.
The loose seats have been another headache for American. Its parent, AMR, filed for bankruptcy protection in November. It's in contract re-negotiations with its pilots union, and has had to cancel flights the last few weeks.
The carrier has accused pilots of disrupting flights by calling in sick and filing frivolous mechanical reports. It has canceled up to 2% of its flights through October. Allied Pilots Association Acting President Keith Wilson says the union has not asked pilots to call in sick or file unnecessary reports.
The airline has been working with the Federal Aviation Administration to solve the seat problem, Huguely said.
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