American Airlines is suing one of the world’s largest logistics and shipping companies after its handlers allegedly caused more than half a million dollars worth of damage to a massive aircraft engine that had just undergone extensive maintenance and repairs.
The Fort Worth-based carrier filed the lawsuit in a North Texas district court late last week, demanding that the Swiss logistics firm Kuehne + Nagel cover the $520,246 cost of repairing the damaged Rolls-Royce engine after three years of negotiations over the issue came to a dead end.
Court documents allege that American Airlines entrusted Kuehne + Nagel with transporting a Rolls-Royce Trent 8000 engine, which powers AA’s fleet of Boeing 777 aircraft, to Hong Kong, where it was to undergo a major maintenance overhaul.
The shipping company safely transported the engine to Hong Kong in June 2021, and several months later, Kuehne + Nagel was again hired to transport the engine back to Oklahoma, where American Airlines operates a 246-acre maintenance facility – the largest such facility in the world – including an extensive engine shop.
American Airlines reportedly paid Kuehne + Nagel more than $208,000 to get the engine safely back to Tulsa but when AA’s in-house maintenance staff inspected the engine they discovered that it had sustained ‘significant’ damage during transit, including to its overspeed protection unit, power conditioning system, and electrical harness.
The following year, American Airlines asked Kuehne + Nagel to cover the more than half a million dollar cost to repair the damage, but attorneys acting on behalf of the airline claim the shipping company has since refused to pay American Airlines any damages.
Despite having had a long history of using Kuehne + Nagel’s services, American Airlines is now suing the company for breach of contract and negligence, alleging that the company failed to take ‘reasonable measures’ to prevent the engine from being damaged.
The carrier is not only suing Kuehne + Nagel to cover the cost of repairing the damage to the engine, but also wants the shipping company to pay incidental and consequential damages, along with interest and other undefined relief as set by the court.
Kuehne + Nagel is yet to respond to the lawsuit.
