Senator McCaskill on Airline Industry Maintenance Outsourcing

Airlines continue to send repair work abroad despite security and safety concerns

June 18, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a Senate Commerce subcommittee hearing, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill this week followed up on a series of Department of Transportation Inspector General reports that have exposed gaping loopholes in the security and oversight of foreign repair work on domestic, commercial aircraft.

McCaskill questioned the heads of the national and regional airline associations about the industry’s increasing outsourcing of airline maintenance, including to non-FAA certified repair facilities.

“I don’t think the American flying public realizes to what extent maintenance has been outsourced in an effort to cut costs and that, in many of these places, there’s not even alcohol and drug testing,” McCaskill said during the hearing on aviation operations, safety, and security.

Watch McCaskill question witnesses at the hearing Wednesday

For over two years, McCaskill has been a proponent of increased security and oversight at foreign repair stations. During her time in the Senate, McCaskill has questioned top officials at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and the Department of Transportation IG office about the issue and the lack of progress towards greater oversight and certification of these stations.

McCaskill tried to get answers from industry leaders on the percentage of maintenance they outsource to non-certified repair stations and repair stations in foreign countries, but the heads of the Air Transport Association of America and the Regional Airline Association failed to answer her specific inquiries.

McCaskill also pointed out that outsourcing maintenance work costs more than just American jobs. FAA certification and inspection of repair stations abroad costs significantly more than certification of domestic maintenance facilities, and in the past inspection fees have not kept up with the true cost to the government.

“Taxpayers pay the costs of the FAA inspector to go to look at foreign repair stations, not the airlines. So the taxpayers are actually underwriting this outsourcing,” McCaskill said.

McCaskill also questioned the logic behind the FAA’s current policies, which don’t require airlines to use FAA certified repair stations.

“As I have said to the FAA a couple of different times in this room, ‘I assume getting certified is a good thing. Well, if it’s a good thing, why aren’t we requiring people to use them? And, if it’s not a good thing, why are we spending tax payer money supporting them?’ It doesn’t make sense to me – using good, old fashioned common sense – that we would go through a certification process and then not require it.”

A 2005 report from the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Inspector General (IG) said that about 50 percent of aircraft maintenance is outsourced, and a 2008 report indicated that the number is continuing to climb. According to the 2008 report, airlines are outsourcing both scheduled and critical maintenance – far beyond simple oil changes or tire-pressure checks – to overseas repair facilities, including uncertified locations. Major carriers are now performing 27 percent of their heavy maintenance overseas.

Beyond the safety of airline repairs, security concerns also remain. A 2003 DOT IG report revealed serious security concerns, including an al Qaeda member found working at a repair station in Singapore. The report discovered easy access to facilities by outsiders and found that the FAA was leaving employee background checks and alcohol and drug testing up to the individual airlines.

Along with Senator Arlen Spector (D-PA), McCaskill introduced legislation in the last Congress that would have address many of the safety and security problems associated with outsourcing to foreign repair stations.

Source: Senator Claire McCaskill