It seems to me that no one organisation in the UK has got it right. I am line maintenance staff (only 30 years experience so I probably don't count for much). BA does contract work , I have earned mega money in overtime trying to get aircraft out on time and BA hasn't made any money on the deal. One thing I learnt was that hangar based staff work at a different pace to line maintenance staff.
We had the hangar based staff telling us to slow down, so what do I make of that? In perfect condtions with all the tooling and equipment it takes longer to change components than during a turnround with the rain pouring down. The incentive to get the job done should be the same. I've been in major overhaul, I know, it takes longer with the docking all around, other people working in the area have to be considered etc. However the "stop work its tea up", the endless waits in stores for tooling and materials (usually chatting about golf) is still lingering on. It came to a point that hangar managers were praying line maitenance guys would be in on overtime to get the job done and save face.
My main point is that the aviation engineering scene has some lazy b~#£&*Ds earning good money doing little to earn it knowing that the company can't get shot of them because the CAA is keeping an eye on the fleet to engineer ratio. Companies are scared to get rid of them because there isn't a queue of
qualified people to take their place. Staff travel as a perk has cost airlines much in the long term it has attracted the wrong type of person, the parasite, RAF, barrack room lawyer types on a RAF pension, who are happy to work (or should I say attend) for crap money. It really annoys me that aircraft engineering isn't promoted as the great job it can be. What is JAR66 doing? It's making it even less attractive to join the profession and attain LAE status. RMA seems to be the future unless Joe Public wakes up to the fact that you only get what you pay for.