summit backgrounder

Backgrounder

Business Travel Coalition (BTC) and International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) have partnered to elevate a national discussion over the efficacy of current U.S. airline industry outsourcing practices with respect to maintenance firms in the U.S. and around the world. The interests of business and labor are in complete alignment. The concern is over the further outsourcing of safety and national security-critical airline maintenance in the absence of a single, high standard, and an equally high level of FAA oversight. Aviation technicians and other aircraft maintenance professionals witness firsthand the risks associated with outsourcing.  Corporations that field millions of business travelers are increasingly alarmed over dual and vastly different maintenance and FAA oversight standards.

The U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General’s office has documented many problems in this area over several years.  Consumer Reports, a Consumers Union publication, issued an investigative report in March of 2007, and most recently, the Teamsters released its own report detailing the dangers of outsourcing. Many possible solutions have been identified in Congressional hearings. What is missing is a sense of urgency at the regulatory level proportionate to the growing risk to airline passengers and to the U.S. economy should terrorists seek to exploit a growing vulnerability. 

BTC and IBT will conduct the first of several high-profile events in Washington, DC on February 11, 2008 designed to examine problems, secure stakeholder input and explore potential solutions. Industry and government luminaries have been invited to address the conclave; expert panels have been formed; and all stakeholders in this issue have been invited to participate. Transportation and Homeland Security committee leaders in Congress have been invited to participate. The Summit audience will include business and labor leaders as well as national and international press. Summit proceedings will be broadcast live over the Internet to audiences around the world and will be archived for one year.

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