American Airlines now says it has cancelled more than 1,000 flights as it continues to inspect the wiring on some of its jets.

The airline had been saying that it would scrub 850 flights on Wednesday. Added to Tuesday's 460 cancellations, that could bring the two-day total to around 1,500 lost flights.

Federal inspectors found problems with wiring work done two weeks ago, although the airline says passenger safety was never jeopardized.

Airline officials said the flights would have averaged more than 100 passengers, meaning that more than 100,000 travellers could have been left scrambling to book new flights.   

It was American's second bout with mass cancellations in less than two weeks for failing to meet the same wiring rules set by the Federal Aviation Administration, which is cracking down on airlines after admitting its inspectors were too lax last year with Southwest Airlines Co.

Since the FAA began looking more closely at airlines' compliance with safety directives, there have been cancellations at Southwest, Delta Air Lines Inc. and UAL Corp.'s United Airlines. The agency levied a $10.2-million US civil penalty against Southwest for using planes that had missed inspections for cracks in the fuselage.

Wiring work didn't meet FAA standards

Tim Wagner, a spokesman for American, said an FAA inspector checked several MD-80s Monday and found that some of the wiring work performed two weeks ago didn't meet FAA standards. At issue: the spacing and direction of cords used to secure bundles of wires in the planes' auxiliary hydraulic systems.

The airline said flight safety was never compromised, but, beginning around mid-afternoon Tuesday, American began yanking planes out of service so that wiring bundles could be inspected and stowed properly in the wheel wells.

Gerard Arpey, the chief executive of American and its parent, AMR Corp., apologized for the inconvenience and said the airline was working to comply with FAA orders.

The Fort Worth-based airline said it would put displaced travellers on other American flights or those operated by competitors. Wagner said that because the delays were "within our control" and not weather-related, American was offering meals, lodging and ground transportation to affected travellers.

American struggling with fuel prices, slowing economy

The cancellations and resulting loss of revenue could hardly come at a worse time for American, which is facing high fuel prices and a weakening economy that could hurt demand for travel.

AMR is scheduled to report first-quarter earnings in two weeks, and analysts are forecasting a loss of more than $300 million, according to a survey by Thomson Financial.

Jamie Baker, an analyst with JPMorgan, said in a recent note to clients that he expects airline revenue to decline significantly beginning in the April-June second quarter due to the one-two punch of costly fuel and a possible recession.