Washington — On a day when American Airlines canceled more than 1,000 flights and stranded about 100,000 passengers, the powerful chairman of a congressional committee overseeing transportation warned Wednesday that pressure is mounting to "re-regulate" the airline industry.

"The leash is a very short one," said Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. "Public patience is running out."

RICK MCKAY/AJC (ENLARGE)

James May (left), head of the Air Transport Association of America, a trade group, and Delta executive Gary Edwards testify Wednesday before the House transportation panel.

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Oberstar's blunt remarks came during a hearing on aviation delays and consumer issues and as the nation's biggest airline scrubbed a third of its flights to inspect wiring on some of its jets. Federal Aviation Administration inspectors found problems with wiring work done two weeks ago, and Oberstar said the inconvenience could be traced a rush to make up for lax regulation in the past.

"What we're seeing," he said, results from deadlines being missed and airworthiness directives not being enforced.

Oberstar said he voted — with reservations — for the Airline Deregulation Act in 1978 that ended federal control of commercial aviation and left fares for airline passengers and flight schedules up to the forces of supply and demand.

Overall, fares have been lowered by deregulation, he said, but passenger dissatisfaction is growing almost hourly on issues such as flight delays and cancellations, lost luggage and passengers stuck on runways.

"There is a palpable sense of outrage in the public" on these matters, he told witnesses from the airline industry and Department of Transportation.

James May, president of the Air Transport Association of America, which represents the major airlines, said the industry is working to solve the problems but noted that weather is the cause of most lengthy flight delays.

He also warned there is an "unavoidable trade-off" between delays and cancellations. "If Congress and the public conclude that avoiding lengthy delays is the most important objective, we must all accept the fact that more flights will be canceled and more passengers, at the end of the day, will be inconvenienced," he testified.

The inspector general of the U.S. Department of Transportation testified that air travelers' dissatisfaction has been compounded by reduced capacity and increased demand, which leads to fuller flights and bigger airline profits, but causes a rippling of passenger problems if a flight is delayed or canceled.

"Between 2000 and 2007, airlines have managed the growth in seat capacity to constrain costs," Calvin Scovel testified. Last June, for instance, 86.1 percent of all airline seats were occupied.

"With more seats filled, air carriers have fewer options to accommodate passengers from canceled flights or those missing connections due to flight delays," he explained. "This situation has been further compounded by the recent grounding of numerous passenger aircraft by American, Delta, Southwest and United Airlines in the aftermath of growing maintenance concerns."