Have FAA Policies Encouraged Outsourcing?

Airlines are outsourcing major aircraft repairs to foreign countries in ever-increasing numbers. National Public Radio reported this week that in 2007 U.S. air carriers sent 71% of “heavy airframe maintenance” to private facilities in cheap foreign labor markets (see our Oct. 19, 2009 post). Airlines cite a recession-driven need to lower maintenance costs as the primary reason for taking maintenance jobs outside the U.S. However, several in-air maintenance failures have focused media and industry attention on the issue. There is considerable concern that:

• foreign workers do not have the same level or training, repair experience or professional certification as U.S.-trained airline mechanics; and
• foreign maintenance facilities are not subject to the same levels of inspection and oversight as American shops.

Many are placing blame at the FAA’s door, charging that the FAA’s lack of oversight or insistence that repairs and maintenance meet U.S. standards is placing passengers at risk and unfairly denying American workers the opportunity to compete. While the FAA is charged with inspecting all maintenance and repair work, NPR charges that:

 “the inspector general at the Department of Transportation has investigated those checks and balances, and has repeatedly warned over the past six years that FAA and industry inspectors are not monitoring the work the way they should.”

U.S. airline mechanics and repair facilities are understandably angry. While the FAA has failed to hold foreign competitors to account, the agency has been increasingly aggressive in punishing safety and maintenance lapses in the U.S. We here at Lindbergh Aircraft Tug Co. would like to know what you think. We’re in the business of designing and manufacturing safe, ergonomic aircraft tugs to ease the physical burden of moving heavy aircraft. Our mission is to make airplane maintenance safe for the airline workers and mechanics who make aircraft safe for passengers. We do our job. We think they should be allowed to do theirs. What do you think?