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Government Industry

Union and Consumer Group Criticize Airline Maintenance Outsourcing

Air Safety Week, Feb 18, 2008

A powerful labor union and a consumer group have called on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to do a better job monitoring aircraft maintenance performed overseas.

The call came from the Teamsters Union and the Business Travel Coalition, which co-sponsored a national summit on aircraft maintenance outsourcing on Feb. 11 in Washington, DC.

The Teamsters, which represent mechanics at major U.S. airlines, have long criticized the practice of U.S. airlines sending maintenance overseas where the work is done cheaper. Air safety advocates, members of Congress, and current and former members of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) also voiced their concerns at the summit.

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The summit drew nearly 200 participants from the aviation industry, government agencies and the aviation industry. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D- Missouri) and Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minnesota) gave videotaped presentations at the event.

Oberstar, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said legislation the House passed last year to reauthorize the FAA would require the agency to raise the requirements on overseas facilities. The legislation is still pending in the Senate.

McCaskill, a member of the Commerce and Homeland Security Committees, said she found it "kind of weird" that passengers can't carry shampoo on an airline flight yet there are lax security standards for overseas repair shops.

We can't wait for the smoking hole. We can't be waiting for an accident. We have to get in front of it," said John Goglia, a former NTSB member.

Speaking on a panel, Deborah Hersman, a current Safety Board member, noted that the NTSB can only recommend that the FAA adopt tougher rules to prevent airline accidents. But often better procedures or practices aren't adopted by the FAA until after a serious mishap, she said." At the end of the day, unfortunately, as we've seen too many times, it does take an accident to change people's minds. It does take a death toll before issues are corrected," she stated.

At the summit, Greg Feith, a former NTSB investigator, moderated panels in which invited speakers debated the current state of outsourcing. Feith urged the speakers to discuss possible solutions to the safety and security issues.

Some of the legislative ideas that were considered include: increased frequency and depth of FAA inspections to domestic and foreign repair stations; required criminal background checks for repair station employees; mandated drug and alcohol screenings; and harmonized standards for U.S. airlines for all repair stations.

Teamster mechanics are urging Congress to impose a moratorium on any further outsourcing of airplane repairs and maintenance by the country's airlines until there are uniform maintenance standards and FAA oversight, saying they are concerned about the dangers to passenger safety and national security that the practice poses.

"Teamster aviation mechanics are worried about the non-stop rush to outsource. They see firsthand the shoddy and dangerous work that comes back from poorly qualified, badly regulated contractors. Mechanics tell us that they won't even let their own families fly on airlines that outsource heavily. That should be a wake-up call to Congress and the airlines," said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa.

"We need to call for a moratorium of all overseas maintenance. We need a moratorium and we need it now. This moratorium should not be lifted until every one of the 700 (overseas) repair facilities meet our standards," he added.

The mechanics union says major U.S. domestic carriers dramatically increased outsourcing in recent years, and now spend nearly two-thirds of their maintenance dollars on contract repair stations here and abroad, including facilities in operations in China, El Salvador, Mexico, and the Philippines. Foreign repair stations are not required to have the same number of FAA- certificated mechanics, or the same security rules, as airline-owned repair facilities in the U.S., the union noted.

The concern is over the outsourcing of airline maintenance in the absence of a single, high standard, and an equally high level of FAA oversight.

The U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General's office has documented problems in this area over several years.

The increasing outsourcing of aircraft maintenance by U.S. carriers alarms DOT IG Calvin Scovel because gaps remain in FAA supervision of foreign repair stations.

In a recent congressional hearing, Scovel said that the U.S. airline safety record "is a remarkable accomplishment given the many changes occurring within the industry." He said air carriers continue to struggle for profitability, cutting costs by reducing in-house maintenance and increasing the use of external repair facilities, many of which are located in foreign countries.

While U.S. air carriers have outsourced maintenance for years to both domestic and foreign repair facilities where repairs are cheaper, the practice has grown in recent years.

Government Industry

Union and Consumer Group Criticize Airline Maintenance Outsourcing

Air Safety Week, Feb 18, 2008

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