Ali and JFD,
I am not sure that I agree with you guys 100% on the subject that maintenance done in asia and the 3rd world countries will be sub-standard and just as expensive.
I think that the cheaper man-hour rate will result in a bottom line that is 30% TO 50% lower than todays western/european prices and due to less stringent working hour rules, it will be done faster aswell.
Looking at the standard of the work today coming out of Thai, SASCO and HaeCo, I canīt see much of a difference if you compare it to Ex. BA, Lufthansa or ASL Bremen. There are just as many Post check problems from these ,as from the afore mentioned. The reson for that, IMHO, is the level to which the induvidual "Mechanic" is specialized. It dosnīt do much for his/her pride in work, or his/her overall knowledge for that matter, but he is cheap, and most important of all, easy to replace.
History is also against us. If you look at car manufacturing for example, until Henry Ford came along cars where hand built, and then in the 70īs the manual labor was all but replaced by robots, all done to increase productivity and make the stock holders happy.
I hope just as much as you that history will prove me wrong, but sadly history tells us that where there is a dollar there is a way.
Brgds
Doc