American Airlines says seats secured on 40 of 48 planes

Oct 5 (Reuters) - American Airlines on Friday said it has repaired seat locks on 40 Boeing 757 jets after some seats came loose during flights earlier this week.

The AMR unit, which filed for bankruptcy protection last month, said all 48 of its 757 jets that were to get the seat adjustments would be back in service by Saturday.

The carrier had canceled 94 flights over Thursday and Friday to improve the locking mechanisms used to secure seats to aircraft floors.

"We have identified the issue and our maintenance teams are securing an FAA (Federal Aviation Administration)-approved locking mechanism to make sure no seat can be dislodged," American spokeswoman Andrea Huguely said in a statement.

In recent days, there were three separate incidents in which seats on American Airlines flights came unbolted from the floor, prompting an investigation by the FAA and jet inspections. American said an internal probe showed that improperly installed clamps had caused seats to loosen in six aircraft.

Fort Worth, Texas-based American Airlines has just over 100 757 planes, but only 48 use the seat model that has caused problems.

American Airlines and its pilots union resumed contract talks Wednesday, but other problems continued to beset the bankrupt carrier this week.

A cockpit warning light caused an American flight to return to an airport shortly after takeoff Tuesday, while a court said a union-organizing drive at the airline could go forward and flight delays brought more customer complaints.

(Reporting by Karen Jacobs, Editing by Gary Crosse)

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Keywords: AMERICANAIRLINES SEATS/