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Airline Maintenance Comes Under Scrutiny
Whether it's competition over fares, routes, in-flight amenities or labor contracts, the business of aviation is often a dogfight. Now there's a tussle taking place largely out of public view over whether the steadily increasing outsourcing of aircraft maintenance -- especially to overseas locations -- constitutes a public safety hazard.
Yes, it does, say the leaders of some U.S. aviation unions who claim regulators' oversight of outsourced maintenance is not tight enough, especially at overseas repair stations. Members of the unions do work that ranges from checking landing gear and testing jet engines to completely tearing down and rebuilding planes.
No, it doesn't, say major U.S. carriers who use what they say are high-caliber contractors to handle major assignments, after employing a complex formula to determine what work is outsourced and what stays in-house.
In 2005, nine major U.S. carriers outsourced 62 percent of the $5.5 billion they spent on maintenance, up from 37 percent in 1996, according to the Transportation Department.
The nation's airlines have outsourced maintenance for years, but the need to cut costs and streamline operations in recent years has pushed money-losing carriers to forgo doing most maintenance work at their owned-and-operated depots in favor of contracting with third parties. In the first three quarters of 2006, the amount of outsourced work hit 64 percent, an all-time high.
Outsourcing accelerated after the 2001 terrorist attacks, and a recession early this decade contributed to the $40 billion in losses reported by U.S. carriers. To cut their losses, the airlines slashed 130,000 jobs, including thousands of highly skilled and well-paid aircraft mechanics. Early this month, the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association said the number of mechanics and related workers it represents at United Airlines has fallen to 5,600, from 15,000 in 2001.
