In 1998, the Federal Aviation Administration fined the airline $2.5 million for maintenance violations.

On Thursday the Canadian government fined the airline about $160,000 for maintenance violations and restricted the company's over-water flights, requiring them to stay closer to land.

The agency announced that USAirways - then known as USAir - would pay $450,000 to settle a series of security, operations and maintenance violations.

The airline finally ceased operations during the latter half of 1982, when the FAA grounded it for a maintenance violation regarding the operation of a non-airworthy aircraft.

The fine was the second largest ever for maintenance violations.

The largest fine obtained by the aviation agency before now was a $1.95 million penalty for maintenance violations against Pan American World Airways last August.

Eastern's decision to pay the fine came after the agency imposed penalties over the last two years against several other air carriers for similar maintenance violations.

The F.A.A. originally proposed the $9.5 million penalty for maintenance violations in a March 1986 letter to Eastern.

In the nine years after the crash, the Government cited Arrow 24 times for operations and maintenance violations.

Air St. Thomas had stopped flying to Saint-Barthélemy in 2004 after it was named among five airlines "blacklisted" by the French government because of alleged maintenance violations.