VZCZCXYZ0001
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSN #1024 3031842
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 301842Z OCT 09
FM AMEMBASSY SAN SALVADOR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1808
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE
RULSDMK/DEPT OF TRANSPORTATION WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SAN SALVADOR 001024 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAIR ECON ES
SUBJECT: CROSSED WIRES: NPR'S REPORT ON OUTSOURCING AIRLINE REPAIRS 
 
REF: 08 SAN SALVADOR 324 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Officials from the El Salvador-based Aeroman 
repair facility strongly refuted allegations raised in a recent 
National Public Radio report concerning the potential safety 
implications of the growing practice in the airline industry of 
outsourcing maintenance abroad.  Aeroman clients including Southwest 
and TACA stand by the repair facility, expressing confidence in the 
quality of the repair work and their respective quality control and 
inspection regimes.  A 2008 CODEL also left favorably impressed with 
Aeroman.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (U) NPR recently broadcast a three-part series entitled, "Crossed 
Wires: Flaws in Airline Repairs Abroad", featuring an investigative 
report on Aeroman, an airline maintenance company based in El 
Salvador and owned by the Canadian company ACTS (80 percent) and 
Grupo TACA (20 percent).  In the NPR story, Aeroman was heavily 
criticized for paying low wages, rushing repair work, forcing 
employees to work long hours, and hiring employees incapable of 
reading English repair manuals.  The investigative report identified 
mistakes made by Aeoman mechanics, including crossed wires in a 
cockpit fuel indicator and improperly placed seals on an exit door. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Andres Garcia, Aeroman's Commercial Director, and Arturo 
Torres, Aeroman's Quality Assurance Manager, confirmed that the 
errors identified in the NPR story did occur, but they added such 
mistakes are very rare.  Torres said Aeroman and its clients conduct 
rigorous quality assurance inspections to ensure that mistakes, like 
those cited in the NPR story, are caught before aircraft are put 
back into service. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Torres refuted NPR's other claims, stating that Aeroman 
pays a generous wage for local standards, only hires technicians 
after they have passed a technical English exam, and that employee 
hours are strictly regulated by FAA standards.  Garcia emphasized 
that Aeroman has never been responsible for a mechanical failure 
that led to a crash.  They speculated that the NPR story was driven 
by airline mechanic unions in the U.S. worried about losing more 
jobs overseas. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Garcia said Aeroman falls under constant scrutiny since 
they are located in a "developing country" and because of the 
perception that El Salvador lacks labor with the technical skills to 
perform complicated airline maintenance work.  Garcia explained that 
Aeroman is the only Airbus Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) 
network repair facility in Latin America, and they are also 
certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the European 
Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and seven other governments. 
According to Les Dorr, the FAA Spokesman for the Western Hemisphere 
Office, the FAA assessed penalties against Aeroman for the problem 
with the misplaced door seals that was cited in the NPR story, but 
that is the only such incident that they consider a problem.  Dorr 
said FAA conducts thorough audits of Aeroman and they believe 
Aeroman performs high quality work. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Three U.S. carriers use Aeroman for heavy maintenance: U.S. 
Airways, Jet Blue and Southwest Airlines. Heidi Frederick, Manager 
of International Safety and Security Operations for Southwest 
Airlines, told Econoff that Aeroman has serviced three Southwest 
aircraft since early 2009, and Southwest is extremely satisfied with 
the quality of maintenance. Arturo Saravia, Grupo TACA's Maintenance 
Planning Manager, likewise said TACA is extremely satisfied with the 
quality of service provided by Aeroman.  Saravia said TACA technical 
representatives are on hand at the facility and perform checks 
throughout the repair process to ensure accuracy of the repairs 
performed by Aeroman. 
 
¶7. (SBU) A House Transportation Committee CODEL visited Aeroman in 
February 2008, as part of an inspection of overseas maintenance 
facilities.  The delegation left favorably impressed with Aeroman, 
praising its controls and noting that it was better than some US 
facilities they had seen (reftel). 
 
BLAU