Safety News

Outsourced Maintenance

Columnist Harold Meyerson sees in the JetBlue case a problem with outsourced maintenance and the need to trim costs that are part of corporate America at large. Below are extracts of his column in the September 28 Washington Post, and a JetBlue response.

Amid the horrific images that flashed across our TV screens during the past month, there was one last week that stood out because it was so unexpectedly reassuring: that of a supremely competent pilot steering a JetBlue airliner with jammed front wheels to a safe landing at Los Angeles International Airport.

Since last week's landing, though, we've learned a couple of other things that aren't quite so comforting--for instance, that this was at least the seventh time that the front wheels on an Airbus A320 have gotten locked in the wrong position.

More surprising still was the news about JetBlue's long-term maintenance of its aircraft. When the planes are inspected for damage and then reassembled, the work takes place either in Canada or El Salvador.

When JetBlue first took to the air in 2000, rather than hire its own long-term maintenance department, the company subcontracted that work to Air Canada and the Central America-based TACA. It's certainly cheaper: According to a Wall Street Journal story last January, the Salvadoran mechanics make $300 to $1,000 a month--far less than their U.S.-based counterparts. Roughly one-third of the Salvadoran mechanics have passed the exam that qualifies them for the Federal Aviation Administration's license, while in the United States, such licenses are required for all mechanics employed directly by the airlines.

But such licensed, in-house mechanics are increasingly the exception at U.S. airlines. About half of the long-term maintenance on the planes of U.S. carriers is outsourced, and much of that work takes place overseas, where FAA inspections are a sometime thing.

The JetBlue response:
Maintenance technicians employed by JetBlue either perform or oversee all work on our fleet. This includes scheduled work done by our business partners Air Canada Technical Services and Aeroman, the maintenance, repair and overhaul division of TACA International Airlines which is certified by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to perform maintenance work. We chose these business partners based on their track record for providing a superior level of product quality and services. Our expectations in this regard have been consistently met. Indeed, third-party maintenance support is a well-recognized and accepted industry practice.

Daily and routine maintenance is performed by JetBlue technicians in 12 maintenance centers across the United States.

Not only are we confident in the safety of our fleet, but JetBlue has received an award from Airbus for the last two years running for having the highest technical reliability of any A320 family operator in the world. JetBlue was also honored last year with the FAA's Diamond award for technician training.

At JetBlue, safety is our number one value, the foundation of all we do.

This story was adapted from AM sister publication Air Safety Week. For more information about ASW, see www.AviationToday.com.>