Regulators May Hit American Airlines With $25 Million Penalty

Regulators are considering hitting American Airlines (AMR) with a record penalty of $25 million or more for safety violations, The Wall Street Journal said.

The fine relates to problems discovered in 2008, when improperly fixed electric wiring around landing gear forced American to ground its fleet of 300 McDonnell Douglas MD-80 jets for several days, The Wall Street Journal reported without naming its sources.

The Federal Aviation Administration determined that more than 280 jets hadn't been in compliance with safety regulations. These jets made a total of about 15,000 flights before all the problems were corrected.

The FAA may consider each of these flights a separate violation, which would allow them to impose a penalty for each.

Regulators are "definitely are focused on numbers in the ballpark of $25 million and up," one source told The Wall Street Journal.

No final decision has been made and the company hasn't been officially informed about a punishment.