Tue, Jan 17, 2006
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airline's permit could be limited -- or even withdrawn -- over the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.
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