American Airlines has notified its Transport Workers Union in Tulsa that the company will outsource heavy maintenance on four Boeing 757 aircraft by Nov. 1, company and union officials said.
The 757 work will be performed by TIMCO Aviation Services, an independent aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul provider in Greensboro, N.C.
The 757 heavy maintenance, or “C checks,” normally are performed at American’s Maintenance & Engineering Center at Tulsa International Airport, company and union officials said, and the work takes from three to four weeks to complete.
American executives said a backlog of maintenance work at the Tulsa base compels the company to outsource the 757 maintenance as a temporary solution.
“American Airlines takes a very strategic approach to its maintenance planning needs,” said American spokeswoman Andrea Huguely. “At this time, a short-term solution is required to address a large number of heavy maintenance checks for a portion of American’s fleet.
“Over several years, we have outsourced a very few, specialized projects, usually on a short-term basis. That work is a miniscule fraction of our overall maintenance operation.”
Spokesmen for the TWU’s Local 514 in Tulsa, however, said American management knew about the 757 heavy maintenance requirements more than a year ago, failed to plan for the work and refused to consider TWU proposals for performing the maintenance in-house.
Read the complete story in Sunday's World.
No comments:
Post a Comment