Getting your player ready...
WASHINGTON — Nine major U.S. airlines are farming out aircraft maintenance at twice the rate of four years ago and hire outside contractors for more than 70 percent of major work, the government says. Contractors overseas handled one-quarter of the outsourced maintenance.
At the same time, U.S. oversight of repair facilities is lagging, the Transportation Department found.
The airlines examined in the report were AirTran Airways, Alaska Airlines, America West Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, Northwest Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines. American Airlines, the nation’s largest domestic carrier, was not included, the inspector general said, because it handles most maintenance in-house.
