American Airlines is canceling 200 flights for Wednesday – as it performs more detailed inspections on the MD-80 aircraft – affecting some 26,000 passengers.

American says it is in the process of completing the inspections on the airplanes and will return them to service on a rolling basis throughout the day.

A statement from American said that the inspections pertain to questions raised by the FAA and American safety officials about how a certain bundle of wires is secured to the MD-80 aircraft. Airline spokesman Tim Wagner said that while the airline has not grounded any aircraft, the several hours needed to perform each inspection required the flight cancellations.

American Airlines Web site says the aircraft accounts for 300 of the airline’s fleet of 655 jets.

(Source: CNN / American Airlines)