Ex-FAA Inspectors Must Wait Before Taking Airline Jobs, FAA Says
U.S. aviation inspectors will be barred for two years from working for the airlines they oversaw to prevent ethical breaches that may undercut safety, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The rule is designed to prevent conflicts of interest that may undercut the government’s oversight of airlines, charter operators and maintenance facilities, the FAA said in a notice posted today on the Federal Register’s website.
Congressional investigators said in 2008 that Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) had made almost 60,000 flights on Boeing 737s that had not received mandatory inspections for fuselage cracks.
Investigators found that a former FAA inspector who had gone to work for Southwest had too close of a relationship with FAA managers overseeing the airline.
Southwest agreed to pay a $7.5 million fine for the missed inspections.
To contact the reporter on this story: Alan Levin in Washington at alevin24@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Bernard Kohn at bkohn2@bloomberg.net
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