American Airlines said it was canceling several hundred flights today (April 9) to conduct additional inspections of its MD-80 fleet.

American said the inspections will ensure precise and complete compliance with the FAA’s airworthiness directive, related to the bundling of wires in the aircraft’s wheel wells. These inspections—based on FAA audits—are related to detailed technical compliance issues and not safety-of-flight issues.

“We’ve been working in good faith to ensure that we are in complete compliance with this airworthiness directive,” said Gerard Arpey, chairman and CEO of American Airlines. “We regret and apologize that we are once again causing inconvenience to our customers, but we will continue to work in good faith until we satisfy all of the technical issues related to this airworthiness directive.”

At press time it was not known how many cancellations will result, but it could be as many as 500 today. Additional cancellations are likely tomorrow, American said.

American will re-accommodate customers on other American flights or on flights operated by airlines in the same market. Customers may be automatically notified of flight changes, but should check www.aa.com.