The US Federal Aviation Administration has fined Delta Air lines nearly $1 million for allegedly violating safety regulations during revenue flights of an Airbus A320 and a Boeing 737-800 in 2010 and 2011.
The carrier has 30 days to respond to the allegations and the associated $987,500 fine.
The first supposed violation, which netted a $687,500 fine, resulted from the carrier's failure to repair a chip in the nose radome of the 737 "after an FAA inspector conducted a pre-flight inspection and informed Delta he had observed chip damage" on 25 February 2010.
"Delta's structural repair manual requires the airline to seal radome chip damage before further flight," says the FAA, adding that Delta operated the plane on 20 additional flights through 1 March without repairing the chip, despite layover inspections on 25 February and 28 February.
Regarding the second violation, the agency is proposing a $300,000 fine for allegedly operating an Airbus A320 on 884 flights between 25 May 2010 and 3 January 2011 with an "incorrectly deferred repair of a broken cockpit floodlight socket at the first officer's position".
"Maintenance procedures allow the airline to defer repairs on a dome light for no more than 10 days before repairing or replacing it," says the FAA, adding that it discovered the alleged violation during a routine inspection.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
