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American Morning

Emery Worldwide Airlines Suspends Operations

Aired August 13, 2001 - 10:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Just about 30 minutes ago, Emery World Airlines announced that it is suspending its air carrier operations. Aviation officials told CNN that Emery had until noon today to ground its planes voluntarily or face federal action. The FAA officials cited concerns over two crashes and maintenance related problems over the past 18 months.

CNN's Patty Davis is in Washington. She joins us now. She's got the latest on this developing story for us -- Patty.

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon, the company that owns Emery has, indeed, announced that it is suspending operations, it says temporarily under an interim agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration.

The FAA, sources say, had given that company until about noon today to either shut it down or the FAA said it was going to pull the certification. The FAA, sources say, concerned with maintenance practices at the cargo carrier.

Now, Emery had a crash in February of 2000 near the Sacramento Airport. That killed three crewmen. It was perhaps related to maintenance questions here.

Now, recent inspections, sources say, pointed to problems with maintenance practices, including poor record keeping, including not complying with federal regulations in its maintenance practices, also, inadequate repairs, installing incorrect parts on these Emery cargo planes.

Now, the company says that it is shocked. It was caught by surprise. It totally did not expect this. But the FAA will, tells CNN that, indeed, that the airline was under heightened surveillance since about January of 2000, about one month before that crash occurred.

Now, the impact in terms of customers, the company says don't expect an impact. In fact, it says it has already contracted out with Ryan Aviation -- that is located in Wichita, Kansas -- to pick up the freight that it hauls on its 30 -- 30 airplanes, it said, will only be impacted. It'll pick up all of that business. So the one impact, though, will be, Emery says, on its staff. It expects to have to furlough about 800 pilots, crew members as well as administrative personnel during this interim time. But it says it does expect to get up and flying again as soon as it resolves its problems with the FAA -- Leon.

HARRIS: Patty, what's the thinking about how long this shutdown's going to last?

DAVIS: Well, that's a good question. The FAA is going to have to go through and they're going to have to hammer out some kind of agreement whereby either Emery makes the maintenance changes that the FAA is requiring or, you know, we'll just see what happens if Emery goes ahead and does that or somehow convinces the FAA that it hit, that it has made some improvements to its maintenance -- Leon.

HARRIS: All right, Patty Davis in Washington, thank you.

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