DOT Watchdog Says Safety Risks Went Unresolved Despite Known Issues

A new federal audit is calling out the Federal Aviation Administration for failing to adequately oversee SkyWest Airlines’ maintenance practices—despite knowing about systemic issues for more than four years. The DOT watchdog issued seven recommendations, six of which were accepted by the agency.

In a July 28 report, the Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) concluded that the FAA’s Certificate Management Office (CMO) repeatedly failed to ensure SkyWest addressed key maintenance problems, particularly involving its use of remote return-to-service procedures. While the agency made progress on some issues, resolving 26 out of 32 identified concerns since 2021, investigators found that critical lapses remain.

Among the most pressing: SkyWest aircraft were reportedly dispatched without required inspections, maintenance tasks were deferred improperly, and pilots were at times assigned duties outside the scope of approved manuals. The watchdog also noted ongoing confusion inside the FAA about how to handle such violations, with CMO managers at one point instructing inspectors to use enforcement methods that aren’t even found in official FAA policy.

The issues are compounded by internal problems at the FAA itself. Delays in accessing SkyWest’s data, high turnover among CMO staff, and poor communication between teams have all contributed to the oversight gaps. Inspectors weren’t consistently identifying repeat violations, and even when they did, leadership often failed to push for broader corrective actions.

SkyWest, the nation’s largest regional airline, operates nearly 500 aircraft across 255 destinations—most under code-share agreements with United, Delta, American, and Alaska. The airline uses a digital aircraft maintenance logbook (eAML) system introduced in 2018 to authorize remote return-to-service clearances, a process the FAA has struggled to monitor consistently.

The OIG issued seven recommendations to tighten oversight, ranging from improved training to better escalation protocols when data access is delayed. The FAA agreed with six of them and “partially concurred” with the seventh, citing the need for flexibility across different offices.

In the meantime, the FAA says it will roll out changes by July 2026; a timeline that suggests improvements are coming... just not quickly.

FMI: www.faa.gov