To Cut Costs, Airlines Send Repairs Abroad
FAA Repair Stations (Story Promo)
First of a three-part series
Shortly before sunrise on Jan. 23, 2009, passengers on US Airways Flight 518, who were flying from Omaha to Phoenix, were startled by a terrifying shriek.
The pressure seal around the main cabin door was failing, and that shriek was the sound of air leaking through. The plane diverted to Denver. Everybody was safe.
But that and other recent malfunctions affecting US Airways planes, which NPR is reporting for the first time, raise questions about a controversial and growing practice at most U.S. airlines: The industry is sending 1 of every 5 planes to developing countries, from Central America to Asia, when the planes need to be overhauled and repaired.
In the weeks before the door seal started to fail, US Airways had sent that Boeing 737 to be overhauled at Aeroman, a repair company in El Salvador. And mechanics installed a key part on the door — a "snubber" — backward.
Mechanics at Aeroman first told NPR about the incident. David Seymour, a senior vice president at US Airways, later confirmed the details. He says the plane made the unscheduled landing merely as "a precautionary" measure — but he acknowledges that the Federal Aviation Administration issued violations against both Aeroman and US Airways for lapses in maintenance and oversight.
"US Airways takes safety as our top priority," Seymour says. "It's first and foremost in anything that we do, and we never sacrifice safety in any way, shape or form."
Outsourcing Maintenance
The globalization of airline maintenance is a remarkable reversal. Until just a few years ago, America's airlines maintained most of their own planes. The FAA requires airlines to overhaul every plane roughly every two years or less, and small armies of mostly union mechanics at the airlines did the work.
But that was before 2002 — when US Airways filed for bankruptcy, American Airlines slashed flights, and other airlines teetered at the brink. Since then, airlines have been trying to survive by cutting back on any expenses they can control — including the little bags of peanuts.
One of the biggest areas airlines can cut costs is maintenance. Consider this: If an airline fixes its own planes in the U.S., it spends up to $100 per hour for every union mechanic, including overhead and other expenses, according to industry analysts. The airline spends roughly half as much at an independent, nonunion shop in America. And it spends only a third as much in a developing country, such as El Salvador.
Since the airline crisis hit seven years ago, the statistics have flip-flopped: The industry is now sending most of its planes to be overhauled and fixed at private repair shops both in the U.S. and overseas. And roughly 20 percent of planes are going to facilities in developing countries, according to industry surveys.
The Mechanics Of Repair
Industry analysts say there are roughly 700 FAA-approved repair companies in other countries — including repair shops in Argentina, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Kenya, China and Indonesia. The Aeroman company in El Salvador is becoming one of the more popular, drawing business from US Airways, JetBlue, Frontier, Southwest and other U.S. carriers.
The way the system works, the airlines fly empty planes needing an overhaul to Aeroman's hangars at the international airport near the capital, San Salvador. Salvadoran mechanics strip the inside of the plane down to the bare metal. They fix cracks and rust and bad wiring. Then they put everything back together, and the plane is flown back to the U.S.
When people hear that U.S. airlines are getting their planes fixed in developing countries, they often raise their eyebrows and ask, "Should I worry?"
Industry analysts say there's no reason for concern because Aeroman and other foreign companies are doing a great job. "Over the last 10 years, we've seen a significant growth" in the use of foreign repair companies, says Kevin Michaels, director of consulting firm AeroStrategy. "At the same time, air travel has become significantly safer. If this were compromising safety, I suspect we would have seen it by now." The last time a U.S. airliner crashed because of maintenance mistakes was in 2003 — and that plane had been maintained in the U.S.
Questioning The FAA's Oversight
Peggy Gilligan, the FAA's associate administrator for aviation safety, says one reason there hasn't been a crash since then is "that there are lots of eyes looking at work that's done on aircraft, and lots of checks and balances to see that the work is being completed properly." When a U.S. airline sends planes to a repair shop, whether in the U.S. or another country, the work is supposed to be supervised by FAA-certified mechanics, and then checked by inspectors with the repair company, the airline and the FAA.
But 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. His reports are written in the dry bureaucratic language of Washington, D.C., but they add up to a scathing critique of the way the FAA monitors the foreign repair industry — or fails to. For instance, his 2008 report declared:
"FAA still does not have comprehensive data on how much and where outsourced maintenance is performed."
Translation: The FAA does not require airlines to report exactly where they send their aircraft for which kinds of repairs. So, FAA inspectors are not sure which of the roughly 700 foreign repair shops they should inspect.
"There is no standard for all FAA offices regarding initial inspector visits, which can cause safety issues to go unchecked."
Translation: The FAA's inspectors didn't even show up at some foreign repair stations to monitor their work for as long as three to five years.
"Problems existed [at foreign repair stations that the inspector general investigated], such as untrained mechanics, lack of required tools and unsafe storage of aircraft parts."
FAA officials told the inspector general they would correct those problems. "He has made recommendations that FAA improve its oversight, and we take those recommendations seriously," says Gilligan of the FAA.
But so far, FAA officials have not put those changes in place.
"These findings are very, very disturbing," says John Goglia, a former presidential appointee on the National Transportation Safety Board. "We don't know what's going on in those facilities [foreign repair companies]. If we're not monitoring them properly, how do we know it's safe?"
Goglia says the fact that there have been so few crashes in recent years masks a troubling trend that the public can't see as airlines have been slashing costs.
"The margin of safety is getting thinner," he says. "The absence of an accident doesn't mean you're safe. We should be monitoring and doing our job before there's an accident, not after."
In Part 2: Mechanics at Aeroman and US Airways tell NPR about troubling practices on the shop floor — and about the case of the crossed wires.
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RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
When you fly, who do you think has been taking care of your airplane? Mechanics in Chicago - San Francisco, perhaps? Actually, there's a good chance that your plane had major repairs recently in another country - like Mexico or China or El Salvador. And the reason that U.S. airlines send about 20 percent of their planes for maintenance in other countries is simple: It's cheaper. The airlines say foreign mechanics keep planes as safe as any repair shop in America, but investigations by NPR and the federal government raise concerns. NPR's Daniel Zwerdling has more.
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DANIEL ZWERDLING: Do you want to hear where some airlines are sending planes to be fixed?
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ZWERDLING: Go to Central America, to the capital of El Salvador.
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ZWERDLING: We'll start our visit around the central plaza. There are hundreds of market stalls under flimsy awnings, and they give you a quick sense of why more and more American airlines are sending their planes to El Salvador to be fixed: labor is cheap. A haircut: a dollar. Avocados: two for 25 cents. My interpreter and I stop at a booth where the man's fixing appliances.
What is the typical income here?
Unidentified Man (Appliance repair man): (Through translator) I would say, between $200 to $250 a month.
ZWERDLING: Part of you might be wondering: Do I want mechanics in El Salvador to fix our planes? And these market stalls provide one possible answer; mechanics here can fix anything. This guy's taking the motor apart on a kitchen blender. He says a new blender would cost $20, but he's going to fix this one for 10.
You know, if I took a broken blender like that to a repair shop in the United States, they would say: We don't fix that; buy a new one.
Unidentified Man: (Through interpreter): Yes but here, we always find a way to repair it. All of us are poor.
ZWERDLING: And he's proud that his countrymen are repairing planes now, from the States. And here's how it works. U.S. airlines are supposed to overhaul every airplane at least every couple of years, so companies like Jet Blue and U.S. Airways and Southwest fly some of their planes down here. Salvadoran mechanics strip the inside of the plane down to the bare metal. They fix cracks and rust and bad wiring. Then they put everything back together, and the plane flies back to the States. Kevin Michaels runs an industry consulting firm called AeroStrategy. He says the record shows these global repair shops are doing a great job.
Mr. KEVIN MICHAELS (AeroStrategy): Over the last 10 years, we've seen a significant growth in globalization. And at the same time, air travel has become significantly safer. If this were compromising safety, I suspect we would have seen it by now
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Unidentified Man (Announcer): From NBC News in Washington, this is…
ZWERDLING: Airline companies back in the States used to fix most of their own planes. They had armies of union mechanics, but that started to change back in 2002. That's when this show was broadcast.
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Mr. BRIAN WILLIAMS (NBC Nightly News Anchor): American Airlines cuts flights. U.S. Airways files for bankruptcy. Is United next?
ZWERDLING: The airlines are trying to survive, partly by slashing the cost of maintenance. Consider, if an airline overhauls its own planes in the U.S., it spends up to $100 per hour for every union mechanic. But the airline spends half as much at an independent, non-union shop. And it spends a third as much in El Salvador. So today, the industry is sending most of its planes to be repaired at private repair shops. Almost 20 percent of the planes are going to developing countries.
Do you feel just as confident taking a trip with your family on an airplane that was maintained at a place like El Salvador as a plane that was maintained here in the U.S.?
Ms. PEGGY GILLIGAN (Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety, Federal Aviation Administration): I trust any aircraft that's been maintained to FAA standards.
ZWERDLING: Peggy Gilligan helps write those standards. She's the number two official at the FAA, the Federal Aviation Administration. A repair shop can oversee the work on U.S. airplanes, only if FAA has given its seal of approval. And then the FAA is supposed to keep inspecting it, whether the shop's in the U.S. or overseas. So far, the FAA has approved about 700 foreign repair companies in countries like Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Indonesia.
Ms. GILLIGAN: The system expects that there are lots of eyes looking at work that's done on aircraft, and lots of checks and balances to see that the work is being completed properly.
ZWERDLING: But actually, the inspector general at the Department of Transportation has investigated those checks and balances, and he warns that FAA inspectors keep missing problems at repair shops, especially in other countries. The inspector general wouldn't talk with us for this story. He says his reports speak for themselves. So we've asked an NPR producer, Dianna Douglas, to read excerpts.
DIANNA DOUGLAS (Reading): FAA still does not have comprehensive data on how much and where outsourced maintenance is performed.
ZWERDLING: Translation: The FAA does not require the airlines to tell them which foreign repair shops they're actually using. So the FAA isn't sure which they should inspect.
DOUGLAS: There is no standard for all FAA offices regarding initial inspector visits, which can cause safety issues to go unchecked.
ZWERDLING: Translation: The FAA's inspectors didn't even show up at some foreign repair stations for as long as three to five years.
DOUGLAS: Problems existed, such as untrained mechanics, lack of required tools, and unsafe storage of aircraft parts.
ZWERDLING: No translation needed. The FAA told the inspector general they'd correct these problems. Gilligan says they're working on it.
Ms. GILLIGAN: He has made recommendations that FAA improve its oversight, and we take those recommendations seriously.
ZWERDLING: But so far, FAA has not put most of the changes in place.
Mr. JOHN GOGLIA (Former presidential appointee on the National Transportation Safety Board): These findings are very, very disturbing.
ZWERDLING: John Goglia used to be a presidential appointee on the National Transportation Safety Board. He says FAA has so little information on foreign repair shops that they don't even know if they're worse or better than shops in the U.S. He worries about them.
Mr. GOGLIA: We don't know what's going on in those facilities. If we're not monitoring them properly, how do we know it's safe?
ZWERDLING: Look at flying - it's the safest it's ever been.
Mr. GOGLIA: The absence of an accident doesn't mean you're safe. You should be monitoring and doing our job before there's an accident, not after.
Unidentified Man: (Foreign language spoken)
ZWERDLING: Back in El Salvador, I called the company that's fixing the planes. It's called Aeroman, and their executives refused to talk to me. So I found some of their mechanics.
What sort of airlines have you worked on?
Unidentified Man (Mechanic): Jet Blue, U.S. Airways, Frontier.
ZWERDLING: The mechanics at Aeroman told me a troubling story. Early this year, they overhauled a Boeing 737 for U.S. Airways. On January 23rd, the plane was flying with passengers from Omaha to Phoenix. Suddenly, the seal on the main cabin door started failing. Air started shrieking through the cracks. The plane diverted to Denver. U.S. Airways has confirmed this incident. It turns out that mechanics at Aeroman had installed a key part on the door backward.
Daniel Zwerdling, NPR News.
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MONTAGNE: Tomorrow, more potential safety problems at the repair company in El Salvador. You can view an interactive map, showing how aircraft maintenance has extended well beyond U.S. borders, at npr.org.
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MONTAGNE: This is NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.
