Any bets on which way this goes?
From the Wall Street Journal
Southwest Presents Dilemma for FAAThe Federal Aviation Administration's discovery of a significant maintenance lapse at
Southwest Airlines Co. -- unauthorized parts used for up to three years on 82 planes -- presents a vexing policy question for the agency.
Associated Press Both Southwest and FAA agree that the parts don't pose an imminent hazard, but over the years FAA officials generally have taken a hard line by demanding that airlines temporarily ground aircraft until unauthorized parts are replaced.
Should the FAA force the airline to ground the planes to enforce longstanding air-safety rules, even though the violations don't pose an immediate danger?
Taking the jets temporarily out of service would seriously disrupt operations at the largest domestic carrier measured by passengers. Southwest said it is seeking an exemption to continue using the planes.
FAA managers and company officials are trying to work out a compromise by a Tuesday deadline.
The problem initially was believed to affect 46 jets, which Southwest grounded for several hours Aug. 22, causing major flight delays. But a lawyer for the airline said Sunday that 82 Boeing 737 planes had been fitted with the unauthorized parts.
The lawyer said government-approved replacement parts -- pieces of a system designed to protect movable panels on the rear of the wings from hot engine exhaust -- were expected to be installed on as many as 30 of the planes by early Monday.
But that still would leave some 52 jets -- roughly 10% of Southwest's fleet -- technically in violation of FAA regulations because the parts lack required paperwork showing they were designed, made and tested for aviation uses.
Southwest has told the FAA that swapping out all the suspect parts could take up to three more months, and the airline has pledged to significantly step up inspections of the parts until then.
Both Southwest and FAA agree that the parts, some of which have been on the planes for up to three years without causing apparent problems, don't pose an imminent hazard.
Boeing Co. also said it doesn't believe the parts pose a safety threat.
Still, over the years FAA officials generally have taken a hard line by demanding that airlines temporarily ground aircraft until unauthorized parts are replaced.
In this case, according to people familiar with the details, FAA officials want to avoid creating a dramatic disruption to Southwest's schedules. But at the same time, factions inside the agency are concerned that allowing the jets to continue flying could set a precedent by opening the door for other carriers to seek similar special treatment in the future.
An FAA spokesman said Sunday: "We are still considering the options available to us."
Dane Jaques, an outside lawyer for Southwest, said Sunday that relations with the FAA were "positive" and regulators "appear to be open to our suggestions." But Mr. Jaques said, "We have not yet received FAA permission to continue flying the planes after Tuesday."
Mr. Jaques said Southwest used an FAA-approved contractor, Phoenix-based D-Velco Aviation Services, which in turn subcontracted work on the affected systems to another company.
The subcontractor wasn't authorized by the FAA to provide those particular parts, Mr. Jaques said. The parts had slightly different dimensions than Boeing-approved brackets, and the aluminum alloy differed slightly from Boeing specifications, he said.
Southwest has since suspended D-Velco as a maintenance contractor, Mr. Jaques said. D-Velco didn't respond to requests for comment Sunday.
An exemption not only would seem to go against decades of FAA policy, it's likely to spark criticism of the agency at a time when lawmakers on Capitol Hill are prodding the FAA to be more aggressive in policing airlines and enforcing safety rules. Such a move also could create internal FAA procedural problems, since it would bypass typical public comment requirements. The airline, according to people familiar with the matter, is arguing that the public interest would be best served by avoiding the extensive economic and personal disruptions stemming from a protracted grounding.
Mr. Jaques said the latest friction with the FAA highlight the broader industry-wide problem that there isn't ``a quick and easy'' way agency inspectors can sanction planes to continue flying with unauthorized parts that nonetheless have been deemed safe. He said he hoped that in the future, the FAA will develop some way to address that shortcoming.
In the spring and summer of 2008, the FAA seriously disrupted schedules at AMR. Corp's American Airlines and other carriers by demanding that planes be kept on the ground while certain maintenance work was redone. Those repairs also weren't considered to pose an immediate safety hazard.
Last month, a Southwest jet carrying 126 passengers and five crew members developed a one-foot-wide hole in its main body midflight, and federal investigators are still trying to determine the cause. The incident was a setback for the discount airline just four months after it agreed to pay $7.5 million for flying dozens of its older 737s on nearly 60,000 flights between June 2006 and March 2007 without performing necessary inspections.
The latest safety issue and related expenses come at an inopportune time for Southwest, which, like many carriers, is struggling to make a profit amid a recession-fueled downturn in business and leisure travel. The airline has booked 36 straight years of profits but lost money in three of the last four quarters, and Chief Executive Gary Kelly has cautioned Southwest could finish in the red again in the current quarter. Although Southwest is faring better than most large airlines, its revenue slumped 7.9% to $4.97 billion in the first half of 2009 from the year before.