Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
The
Federal Aviation Administration has a dual-mandate both to promote aviation and to regulate its safety. A report by the
Department of Transportation that found FAA managers had allowed
Southwest Airlines to fly 46 airplanes in 2006 and 2007 that were overdue for safety inspections, ignoring concerns raised by inspectors. Audits of other airlines resulted in two airlines grounding hundreds of planes, causing thousands of flight cancellations.
[29]
The
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee investigated the matter after two FAA
whistleblowers, inspectors Charalambe "Bobby" Boutris and Douglas E. Peters, contacted them. Boutris said he attempted to ground Southwest after finding cracks in the
fuselage, but was prevented by supervisors he said were friendly with the airline.
[30]
The committee subsequently held hearings in April 2008.
James Oberstar, former chairman of the committee said its investigation uncovered a pattern of regulatory abuse and widespread regulatory lapses, allowing 117 aircraft to be operated commercially although not in compliance with FAA safety rules.
[30]
Oberstar said there was a "culture of coziness" between senior FAA officials and the airlines and "a systematic breakdown" in the FAA's culture that resulted in "malfeasance, bordering on corruption."
[30]
On July 22, 2008, a bill was unanimously approved in the
House to tighten regulations concerning airplane maintenance procedures, including the establishment of a whistleblower office and a two-year "cooling off" period that FAA inspectors or supervisors of inspectors must wait before they can work for those they regulated.
[29]
The bill also required rotation of principal maintenance inspectors and stipulated that the word "customer" properly applies to the flying public, not those entities regulated by the FAA. The FAA was directed to stop calling airlines its "customers".
[29][note 2]
Southwest was eventually fined $10.2 million for failing to inspect older planes for cracks, according to a 2004 FAA directive.
[31]
In September 2009, the FAA administrator issued a directive mandating that the agency use the term "customers" only to refer to the flying public.
[32] Prior to the
deregulation of the US air industry, the
Civil Aeronautics Board served to maintain an
oligopoly of US airlines.
[33][34]
In a June 2010 article on regulatory capture, the FAA was cited as an example of "old-style" regulatory capture, "in which the airline industry openly dictates to its regulators its governing rules, arranging for not only beneficial regulation but placing key people to head these regulators."
[35]