Atlantic Southeast Airlines resumes flights after jet engine check

Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA), based in Atlanta, Georgia, the United States, and a regional carrier of Delta Connection, has resumed operations a day-and-a-half after the airline started cancelling flights to check jet engines. Atlantic Southeast Airlines had cancelled 277 flights after it informed the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that that it “was not certain” whether inspections of 87 engines on 60 of its regional jets had been done correctly.

According to the airline’s website, Atlantic Southeast Airlines normally operates about 800 flights a day to over 135 destinations in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

Also, Atlantic Southeast Airlines is the primary Delta Connection carrier at Delta Air Lines’ hub in Atlanta, Georgia, the Unites States.

The Atlantic Southeast Airlines’ planes that were grounded included CRJ-200 aircraft, made by Bombardier, representing 54% of the airline’s main fleet of 112 CRJ-200 planes and about 40% of its total fleet of aircraft, a statement from the carrier said.

According to the airline, the CRJ-200 aircraft has 50 seats and hence the maximum number of passengers affected by the groundings was about 14,000.

However, the actual number would be nearly 8,500 since the disruption of fights took place during the rather slow mid-week travel period when Atlantic Southeast Airlines’
planes probably filled only about 60% of its seats, the website usatoday.com quoted an aviation analyst as saying.

An official of Atlantic Southeast Airlines said that other Delta Connection carriers – and, in some cases Delta Air Lines itself – accommodated passengers whose journeys had been affected.

Atlantic Southeast Airlines ordered the groundings of its aircraft after it was found, during a regular audit of maintenance records, that 87 engines on the jets “might have been operating beyond their inspection deadlines,” the official explained.

These engines – manufactured by General Electric – were supposed to be checked at least every 5,000 hours.

The inspections on the 87 engines were done as a precaution, the official added.