Airline Blames Outsourcing For Oversight

When airlines find they have to do more with less... what doesn't get done? In Sweden, the answer appears to be engine inspections on ten Airbus aircraft in the SAS livery.

According to the Associated Press, the A340s got new engines, but the airline now admits those engines weren't inspected in accordance with international regulations.

The EU's aviation authority, the EASA, didn't discover the problem. Instead, it was reported by SAS itself... in a sort of corporate mea culpa announced Monday.

"Aircraft must be checked and maintained and we had not done that. When we inspected the aircraft they were airworthy," said SAS spokesman Bertil Ternert. "But of course it is serious that we did not have the administrative control over this."

And in tracking down the source of the problem, SAS admitted it was having trouble because so much of the work had been outsourced -- although the airline intends to correct those procedures.

"Together with the authorities, we have already started to take a number of measures to improve our routines," Ternert added.

There's no word on possible penalties, although Sweden's Civil Aviation Authority chief executive Nils Gunnar Billinger said the airline's permit could be limited -- or even withdrawn -- over the matter.

"All airlines must comply with airworthiness demands and if they don't they will simply not be allowed to fly," he said.

And those engines? The airline says they checked out just fine -- once they were checked.

FMI: Swedish Civil Aviation Authority Homepage, www.sas.se