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Outsourcing Aircraft Maintenance And Related Safety Implications, Rajee Olaganathan Ph.D., Mark Miller Ed.D., Bettina M. Mrusek Ph.D.

National Training Aircraft Symposium (NTAS)

The U.S aviation industry faced severe financial losses after the 9/11 incident. The financial loss that occurred between 2000 and 2009 in the U.S. alone was $54 billion dollars. One of the operational strategies adopted by air carriers to overcome this hurdle was to outsource aircraft maintenance. Initially, this was accomplished in both home and off-shore locations. Unionized labor relations in the US ultimately forced these organizations to outsource to non-unionized labor sources in foreign countries. However, due to the upsurge in accidents and incidents that resulting from maintenance failures, the concept of outsourcing maintenance became a subject of debate …