Regulators Probe Allegations Of Lax Northwest Maintenance
Source: Wall Street Journal
Author: Susan Carey
Federal aviation regulators said they are investigating allegations of possible maintenance problems at Northwest Airlines, where replacement technicians have been caring for the airline's fleet since Northwest's unionized mechanics went on strike Aug. 20.
A Federal Aviation Administration inspector who was temporarily reassigned from his duties at Northwest complained last week to the FAA and Mark Dayton, Democratic senator from Minnesota, the FAA said. The senator, in turn, contacted the FAA and the Department of Transportation's Office of the Inspector General, and sent a letter Friday to FAA Administrator Marion Blakey, outlining the inspector's assertions. Sen. Dayton asked Ms. Blakey to "assure me and the public that Northwest Airlines is meeting all necessary standards of reliability and safety."
Northwest said it couldn't comment on the findings because they weren't available to the carrier but said it is in contact with FAA officials. "Safety is of paramount importance to every employee at Northwest Airlines," the company said in a statement.
The allegations come as the carrier tries to keep its operations running smoothly. The company said 98% of its flights were completed in recent days, while about 80% arrived within 15 minutes of their scheduled time. Northwest said the number of aircraft out of service was about 20 planes, compared with more than 50 when the strike was declared.
The letter to Ms. Blakey, made available by the senator's office and reported by the Detroit Free Press and Minneapolis Star-Tribune, alleged that about 470 FAA inspector reports on Northwest's maintenance operations for roughly 11 days after the strike began weren't entered into an electronic database, "which would have triggered a risk assessment." The letter said that 58% to 90% of the inspector reports cited defects, compared with a defect rate of 3% to 5% for Northwest prior to the strike. According to the letter, a 9% defect rate would trigger an internal FAA alert.
Greg Martin, the FAA's chief spokesman, said yesterday that the inspector had been transferred after the agency received complaints that he was "being intimidating to replacement mechanics." But the FAA is investigating the inspector's allegations with help from the DOT's Inspector General, he said. "We don't have anything to act on right now," Mr. Martin said, because the FAA doesn't have any information or data to suggest any problems exist. The FAA stepped up its surveillance of Northwest's maintenance operations before the strike, nearly doubling the number of inspectors to 80, he said.
David Barnes, a spokesman for the DOT Inspector General, said a team of its own investigators and auditors met Friday for more than three hours with the reassigned FAA inspector. The Inspector General's Office has been critical generally about the FAA's maintenance oversight of airlines.
The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, the union that represents 4,400 Northwest mechanics and aircraft cleaners, has claimed from the start that the airline would be unable to carry on safe and reliable flight operations with replacement workers.
Northwest, St. Paul, Minn., has said that without at least $1.1 billion in overall labor concessions it may be forced to file for bankruptcy-court protection. Last week its pilots union leadership voted to reopen talks on a second round of givebacks, on top of the $265 million annually the union agreed to provide in December for two years.
At 4 p.m. Friday, Northwest stock was down 8.6%, or 34 cents, to $3.63 in composite Nasdaq Stock Market trading.
