American Airlines had to cancel hundreds more flights Thursday as the airline continued to repair aircraft damaged by storms that swept through North Texas on Tuesday evening.Coupled with severe weather in Chicago, the Fort Worth-based carrier said it canceled 312 flights systemwide Thursday, including 146 arrivals and departures at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. However, the cancellations were significantly less than 732 systemwide cancellations Wednesday, when the airline was inspecting more than 60 planes for hail damage. Fifty-one aircraft were being repaired and, by Thursday afternoon, only eight were still out of service for maintenance work, American spokesman Tim Smith said.

We brought in approximately 40 mechanics from Tulsa who joined the mechanics here, and they have been doing an incredible job around the clock, Smith said. He added that it will still take some time for American to accommodate all of the passengers affected by the storms but that the carrier was making progress in getting customers to their destinations.
This is not the first time that American has dealt with significant hail damage on its aircraft. In April 2003, the carrier had 59 aircraft damaged in a North Texas hailstorm with damage ranging from minor dents in aluminum skin to holes punched in wing flaps. It took the carrier several days to repair those aircraft.

Southwest Airlines was also having mechanics working furiously to fix hail-damaged aircraft. The Dallas-based carrier had eight aircraft damaged by the storm. Spokesman Brad Hawkins said that the first of the damaged aircraft was back in service Thursday evening with another slated to return to service today.