The fine consists of two violations.
The first supposed violation involves Delta’s failure to repair a chip in the nose cone of the 737 after the airline was notified of the chip on the aircraft by FAA inspectors.
The initial inspection was done in February 2010, and Delta continued to fly the aircraft on twenty extra flights through March 2010 without repairing the chip. Delta failed to repair the aircraft nose after two additional inspections. FAA said, "Delta's structural repair manual requires the airline to seal chip damage before further flight." FAA fined Delta $687,500 for this first violation.
The second supposed violation involves Delta operating an Airbus A320 on 884 flights between 25 May 2010 and 3 January 2011 with a broken cockpit light. FAA fined Delta $300,000 for this violation. FAA said,
Maintenance procedures allow the airline to defer repairs on a dome light for no more than 10 days before repairing or replacing it.
Delta needs to respond to these allegations within the next 30 days.
Delta Air Lines operates an extensive network of domestic and international flights serving all continents. The airline and its subsidiaries operate more than 5,000 flights every day. Delta Air Lines is the world's biggest airline in terms of scheduled passenger traffic and fleet size.
