Southwest drops El Salvador work

The carrier ended talks about the idea with its mechanics union this week, after the Federal Aviation Administration levied a $10.2 million fine for possible maintenance violations, a labor official and a Southwest spokesman said Friday.

The move highlighted Southwest's efforts to restore its reputation after the March 6 fine, criticism from some U.S. lawmakers and this week's grounding of 44 jets to verify that they underwent proper inspections.

Dallas-based Southwest had not revealed 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 will face questions about its maintenance practices at congressional hearings next month, Mitchell said. His group, which represents corporate travel managers, and the Teamsters union have co-sponsored a meeting on outsourcing Feb. 11 in Washington, D.C.

"They didn't want to expose themselves to any questions or concerns about foreign maintenance vendors," Louie Key, assistant national director of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, said in an interview. "They've withdrawn

Southwest spokesman Chris Mainz confirmed that the maintenance-outsourcing plan had been shelved.

The carrier has an agreement with contractor Aeroman Corp., which has facilities in El Salvador, "that would allow us to send them work in the future," Mainz said. "We have decided to re-evaluate that relationship. We just feel like this is the right thing to do under the circumstances."

Southwest began talks with the union in December after it couldn't find U.S. providers that met its maintenance needs, says Jim Sokol, the airline's vice president of maintenance and engineering.

Under its labor contract, Southwest had to win the union's consent to shift work outside the U.S. The union and airline reached a preliminary agreement and were working on a related contract extension when Southwest abandoned the talks, Key said.

Southwest, which operates 22 lines of maintenance on its Boeing Co. 737 jets, wanted to send four lines of structural work to El Salvador.

The deal with Aeroman would have been the first time for Southwest to send airframe maintenance outside the U.S. About 80 percent of the maintenance on its General Electric Co. engines is done in Brazil.

Aeroman is majority-owned by ACTS, a Montreal-based aircraft maintenance provider.

The FAA said last week that Southwest flew 46 planes that hadn't undergone required inspections for fuselage cracks. This week, Southwest placed three employees on leave as a result of its own review of possible maintenance violations and grounded 44 jets to inspect them.