Travelers Wary in Wake of MX Revelations

Against recent FAA and airline industry safety revelations, passengers are less willing to fly, have skipped recent flights and plan to avoid air travel in the future, according to a Business Travel Coalition (BTC) survey querying frequent fliers regarding aircraft maintenance, outsourcing and Federal...

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Against recent FAA and airline industry safety revelations, passengers are less willing to fly, have skipped recent flights and plan to avoid air travel in the future, according to a Business Travel Coalition (BTC) survey querying frequent fliers regarding aircraft maintenance, outsourcing and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) oversight. The results underline a deepening concern over the safety of U.S. airlines, said BTC Chair Kevin Mitchell. Concern regarding passenger safety and homeland security is driving a strong desire for additional maintenance-related consumer information to assist passengers in choosing an airline on which to travel. There is likewise strong support for an independent top-to-bottom review of FAA as well as worry that the environment is a victim of certain outsourcing practices.
The BTC survey was conducted from April 1 through April 3, and was conducted online. Survey invitations were emailed to 1,300 randomly selected travel industry professionals from BTC’s community of some 33,000 industry, government and media participants; 223 completed the survey. Respondents were asked to consider the survey from an individual passenger perspective.

Key survey findings include:
• 65 percent of survey participants were completely unaware that airworthiness-critical maintenance on aircraft is being performed at non FAA-certificated repair facilities around the world, facilities that FAA often does not know exist.
• 94 percent of participants are very concerned or somewhat concerned about the overall aircraft maintenance and FAA oversight situation.
• 40 percent are less willing to fly due to current aircraft maintenance issues.
• 13 percent have skipped recent flights due to maintenance concerns.
• 25 percent indicate they are very likely or fairly likely to skip future flights.
• 65 percent would find it useful to know, at the time of booking a flight, information regarding where an aircraft was last maintained, or routinely maintained.
• 82 percent would find useful a “scorecard” that rated airlines’ overall maintenance programs.
• 75 percent would book an airline that maintained its aircraft at its own facilities, with FAA-certificated mechanics and FAA oversight, over another airline that outsourced its aircraft maintenance.
• 82percent are very concerned or somewhat concerned about the environmental impact of toxic wastes from heavy aircraft maintenance being dumped into the ground or rivers, or about airplanes are being flown empty to and from foreign countries for maintenance.
• 83 percent would find very useful or somewhat useful an independent and expert top-to-bottom strategic review of FAA with respect to its mission, structure, financing, culture and possible systemic problems.
• 62 percent believe homeland security and passenger safety-related issues associated with aircraft maintenance outsourcing should be addressed by Presidential candidates.

Business Travel Coalition Calls for FAA Reform on MX
BTC launched a major initiative recently, alerting passengers to the growing problem of maintenance outsourcing and the lack of government oversight for such programs. BTC cited regional airline accidents in its brief on the subject including the 2003 US Airways Express/Air Midwest accident in Charlotte, N.C. in which 21 were killed owing to the incorrect rigging of the elevator control system.
"This led to lack of pitch control as the nose of the aircraft rose uncontrollably despite pilot attempts to restrain it," said the group, citing a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determination that the elevator control cable tension had been incorrectly adjusted during the previous maintenance check.
The work had been performed by mechanics employed by a firm to whom the work had been subcontracted by the primary repair station Air Midwest outsourced its maintenance work to. The NTSB also faulted Air Midwest for lack of oversight of the maintenance facility.
After its Aircraft Maintenance Outsourcing Summit in February, BTC, is calling for FAA reform and asking members to become a signatory to a letter destined for U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar.
BTC, which created the Coalition to Legislate Aircraft Maintenance Outsourcing Reform (CLAMOR) in partnership with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), wants a top-down review of the FAA undertaken reviewing its mission, organizational structure, funding, culture and systemic problems and such a review be assigned to the National Academy of Sciences, Transportation Research Board.
"The root of the problem is FAA that has lost its regulatory and oversight bearings," Mitchell told members in a recent email campaign. "Skeptics say it's going to take an airplane maintenance-related catastrophe to cause change at FAA. However, this logic belies previous catastrophes, including the aftermath of September 11, which led only to Blue Ribbon Commissions and not to fundamental organizational change. More importantly, what's different now is that a well-documented problem with aircraft maintenance practices, and woefully inadequate FAA oversight, has become a corporate duty-of-care issue for those accountable for business travelers' welfare. The gap is a stunning one between what corporate senior managements perceive about aircraft maintenance and FAA oversight, and reality. We should reject the view that FAA is a "failed agency," and that there is little to nothing that can be done about it."
The letter to Oberstar indicates the problem is less about airline maintenance and more about "a culturally dysfunctional FAA that has lost its regulatory and oversight bearings...The recent explosion of aircraft maintenance outsourcing to third-world countries demonstrates there are now no 'sacred cows' in many airlines' board rooms. The FAA's staffing levels and oversight model have not kept up; its culture has blinded it to its true mission to protect the flying public."
It cited the regulatory reform in which Congress shed FAA's dual responsibility to both promote aviation and ensure aviation safety. "More than a decade later, FAA has failed to implement what Congress directed it to do," said the letter. "'Exhibit A' is FAA administrators' current practice of referring to airlines as their 'customers.' 'Exhibit B' is FAA's official Mission and Vision Statement."
It reads: "Our vision is to improve the safety and efficiency of aviation, while being responsive to our customers and accountable to the public." It is said that 99.9 percent of all mission statements are so bland and uncontroversial that it's hard to argue with them. This is one of the rare instances in which a government agency's mission statement itself is part of the problem, said the letter.
In its brief to members, BTC noted that between 1996 and 2006 outsourced maintenance increased from 26 percent to 64 percent during which number of foreign FAA-certificated repair facilities grew from 344 to 698. There are two sets of maintenance standards - Parts 121 and 145, said the group, adding that critical exceptions are made in personnel and security standards such as background checks, duty-time limitations, and alcohol and drug testing.
"For example, supervisors and inspectors who sign off on maintenance work at foreign repair stations are not required to hold a FAA repairman certificate or an Airframe and/or Powerplant (A&P) certificate, nor are the mechanics working on the aircraft at these facilities," said BTC. "Exacerbating the problem is uneven FAA and airline oversight as well as a significant number of non-certificated FAA repair facilities. Outsourcing of aircraft maintenance has exploded in volume and complexity while regulatory standards and oversight have not kept pace."
In addition to the two regulatory regimes, the group cited four tiers to the aircraft maintenance, each governed by a different regulatory regime, mandating the minimum oversight standards for outsourced airline maintenance, repair, and overhaul. They include:
• Airline-owned maintenance bases - the most stringent standards under Part 121 of the Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs).
• Domestic repair stations certificated by the FAA under the less stringent FAR Part 145.
• Foreign repair stations certificated by the FAA are also covered by FAR Part 145, but critical exceptions are made in personnel and security standards.
• Non-certificated repair stations, both domestic and foreign, are not regulated or inspected by the FAA, nor are they limited in the types of maintenance they can perform.
It also said that outsourcing is exacerbating the shortage of highly skilled aircraft and avionics technicians which is leading to the dilution of a "vital national infrastructure." It cited last year's Department of Transportation Inspector General report documenting outsourcing problems, adding that there is no sense of urgency for dealing with the issue in government.
"Legislative reforms are now required based upon the following five principles," said BTC, including:
• A single, high regulatory standard should be established governing the operations of airline-owned maintenance facilities and domestic U.S. and foreign repair facilities.
• FAA inspector oversight of both domestic U.S. and foreign repair facilities should be increased to a level that is commensurate with the volume and complexity of current outsourcing practices.
• Airlines that choose to outsource to foreign repair facilities should assume the fully-burdened costs of FAA inspections and audits.
• Both domestic U.S. and foreign repair facilities should have adequate safeguards in place regarding personnel background checks, access to aircraft, and parts inventories to prevent terrorists from exploiting an opportunity to harm the U.S. or other countries.
• Airlines that outsource to foreign repair facilities should hold these facilities to high environmental standards with respect to disposal of toxic wastes and other processes associated with aircraft maintenance.
BTC also cited the lack of inspectors as a major problem, adding that there are nearly 5,000 domestic and foreign repair stations that are certificated by the agency, including nearly 700 overseas facilities, 350 of which have been added to the FAA's inspection roster since 1994. In addition, he charged FAA has been slow to change from its focus on airline maintenance facilities to increase inspectors and redeploy them to oversee both domestic and foreign repair stations.
"Only 103 FAA inspectors (including management staff) are responsible for inspecting 692 foreign repair stations," it said. "Limited staff and travel budgets, and passport and visa controls, make unannounced inspections of these facilities virtually impossible. Of the heavy maintenance (such as teardowns and overhauls of aircraft) outsourced by nine major carriers in 2006, 35 percent was sent to foreign repair stations, up from 21 percent in 2003."
The Coalition cautions that if professional travel industry participants, including airline managers and former airline CEOs, are deeply concerned about maintenance issues, then what that portends for airlines with respect to millions of average passengers is significant, especially against a slowing economy. What’s more, the highly-leveraged airline industry can ill-afford to lose even a small percentage of high-yield business travel passengers, said BTC, noting the apparent demand by consumers for transparency regarding airline maintenance practices that would drive the marketplace in this area.
BTC’s Mitchell added, “It is unconscionable that the FAA reauthorization bill is gridlocked in the Senate. The currently drafted legislation, a version of which has been approved by the House, has some important provisions designed to address aircraft maintenance problems. Inaction in the Senate would place airline passengers and the nation at increasing risk if new legislation is deferred and required to be written and negotiated anew in 2009.”