Southwest Airlines Co., under fire for missing required aircraft inspections, dropped a plan to move some maintenance operations to El Salvador from the U.S.
The carrier ended talks about the idea with its mechanics union last week, after the Federal Aviation Administration levied a $10.2 million fine for possible maintenance violations, a labor official and a Southwest spokesman said.
The move highlighted Southwest’s efforts to restore its reputation after the March 6 fine, criticism from some U.S. lawmakers and last week’s grounding of jets to verify they underwent the proper inspections. Dallas-based Southwest hadn’t announced the union negotiations over outsourcing.
“Southwest knows that this issue is gaining visibility and gaining momentum,” Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Radnor, Pa.-based Business Travel Coalition, said of the FAA probe. “They probably wanted to avoid this further scrutiny.”
Southwest, the largest low-fare carrier, will face questions about its maintenance practices at congressional hearings next month, Mitchell said.
The airline has said passengers’ safety never was endangered in the inspections case.
Southwest operates 22 lines of maintenance on its Boeing Co. 737 jets and had wanted to send four lines of structural work to El Salvador.
