If the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) gets its way, American Airlines will be shelling out a “$24.2 million civil penalty for American Airlines’ failure to properly inspect wire bundles in the wheel wells of its MD-80 aircraft.”

This lack of inspections is said to have created problems on thousands of flights in 2008. A CNN article by Aaron Smith titled “FAA hits American Airlines with biggest fine ever” states that “the FAA determined that the airline operated 286 of its MD-80s on a total of 14,278 flights ‘while the aircraft were not in compliance with federal regulations.’”

The airline has 30 days to respond to the fine, which is considered the largest fine ever placed on an airline, and negotiate a lower fine. Based on quotes from the company’s spokesman, it appears the company plans on challenging the proposed penalty, stating “we are confident we have a strong case and the facts will bear this out.” The company is claiming that the noncompliance never posed a flight safety issue, and that it considered the fine unwarranted since the issue occurred more than two years ago.

Considering the fact that no injuries were caused by the lack of compliance, a fine as high as $24.2 million seems a bit steep. The largest FAA fine prior to this was one received by Southwest Airlines of $10.2 million, later reduced to $7.5 million.

I understand the importance of regulations and of having consequences if companies do not follow regulations, but is the FAA using American Airlines as a example to scare other airlines into following all regulations? What do you think about the fine? Is it on par with the “offense?”

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