FAA Proposes $9.2 Million in Fines for United, US Airways
October 17th, 2009 | File Under : Airline Flight - Airline Industry - Airlines Companies - Aviation
Signaling a potentially tougher safety enforcement policy, federal aviation regulators proposed $9.2 million in civil penalties against US Airways and United Airlines for various maintenance lapses affecting more than 1,800 flights stretching back to early 2008.
The Federal Aviation Administration’s new hard-nosed stance partly reflects heightened congressional and public concerns about maintenance slipups, according to industry and government officials. But Wednesday’s announcement, these officials said, also may be a prelude to seeking potentially larger fines or penalties in pending enforcement cases targeting two other carriers that recently have been more prominently in the agency’s crosshairs: American Airlines and Southwest Airlines.
The FAA proposed a $5.4 million penalty against the US Airways Group Inc. unit for allegedly operating eight aircraft between October 2008 and January 2009 that hadn’t been properly inspected or otherwise failed to comply with government and airline safety procedures. UAL Corp.’s United unit was hit with a proposed $3.8 million penalty for flying a Boeing 737 jet for more than two months after mechanics left rags inside the oil system of one of its engines. Both carriers have 30 days to appeal.
The fines are among the largest ever proposed by the FAA.
A UAL spokeswoman said the carrier was “reviewing” the penalty.
US Airways said it cooperated with the FAA, instituted changes and hopes to negotiate a resolution of the matter.
Adopting a conciliatory tone, the airline said in a statement that the issues identified by the FAA date back to “challenges we experienced during the integration of maintenance systems and processes” between US Airways and America West Airlines. Those carriers merged in 2005. Once their maintenance regimes were integrated, there were some problems in inspections and records during 2007, 2008 and early 2009, US Airways said.
US Airways mistakes cited by the FAA ranged from failure to check a cargo door on a commuter jet that could open in midair to missed inspections of portions of landing gear, hydraulic lines and the tail section of larger jetliners.
On one Boeing 767 jet, the FAA contends that US Airways mechanics failed to perform mandatory inspections of the tail section and certain engine attachments for a period of almost a month. On a Boeing 757 jet, according to the FAA, US Airways mechanics failed to visually inspect certain wing sections during a period when the plane carried passengers on more than 50 flights
In the FAA’s formal letter to the airline proposing the penalty, an agency attorney sated that US Airways operated one of its Airbus A320 aircraft for about 800 flights with a malfunctioning engine cooling valve. Even after being alerted to the alleged safety violation by the FAA, according to the letter, the carrier “continued to operate [the] aircraft for approximately 51 flights” without taking action to repair the problem.
But the FAA’s toughest enforcement challenges may be in the future, involving higher-profile compliance cases pending against AMR Corp.’s American Airlines and Southwest Airlines Co., according to industry and government officials. No penalties have been proposed in any of those cases, though FAA inspectors and midlevel officials have been investigating for some time.
American, for instance, potentially faces tens of millions of dollars in penalties stemming from improperly carrying out mandatory safety fixes to wiring around the landing gear of its fleet of McDonnell Douglas MD-80 family of jets, according to industry and government officials. The carrier was forced to temporarily ground its entire MD-80 fleet in the middle of 2008 to correct the violations. Some preliminary estimates peg the range of possible penalties from $15 million to more than $50 million, but FAA headquarters officials haven’t yet weighed in, according to people familiar with the details.
Separately, American faces a second enforcement case for maintenance lapses involving structural repairs to rear pressure bulkheads on a number of MD-80 planes. FAA officials previously confirmed both of the ongoing enforcement investigations, but they have declined to elaborate.
On Wednesday, American spokesmen Tim Wagner said, “We don’t have any knowledge, one way or the other, about proposed civil penalties until the FAA proposes them.”
At Southwest, the FAA is investigating a previously reported dispute over dozens of the carrier’s Boeing 737s that flew with unauthorized parts installed as part of a system protecting certain rear portions of the wings from hot engine exhaust. The FAA and Southwest ultimately agreed on a compromise to gradually swap out the suspect parts, but the agency is pursuing an enforcement case likely to result in proposed penalties, according to people familiar with the matter.
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