Japan Airlines was understood to be close to an agreement in early September to end the US Federal Aviation Administration's suspension of its licence to repair US registered aircraft.
The airline's FAA authorisation was cancelled in August after a routine annual inspection showed violations of US standards, according to FAA deputy director of flight service William White. The action failed to halt JAL proceeding with work on US-registered aircraft, though it forced the airline to bring in qualified outside engineers to sign off the completed maintenance.
According to sources at JAL, the ruling does not reflect criticism of the actual maintenance procedures or the standard of repairs, but only relates to the completion of the official paperwork.
Privately, JAL officials were puzzled at the US action, labelling it an over-reaction to 'a matter of red tape'. They believe the situation could have been resolved without any official sanction by the FAA. In fact, the airline sources go as far as to suggest that the procedure followed was actually illegal: under regulations covering the licence the FAA is supposed to give 15 days notice of such action but it failed to do so.
However, the airline claims it did not suffer any loss of income and the ban ultimately affected only two of JAL's customers: Singapore Airlines and Continental Micronesia.
A series of meetings were held between JAL and the FAA in late August and early September in an attempt to resolve the issue. A JAL spokesman described the affair as 'a misunderstanding' and was optimistic that a resolution was at hand at presstime.
Source: Airline Business
