THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, June 18, 1996 TAG: 9606180308
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: 63 lines
ValuJet Airlines agreed Monday to temporarily halt its operations at midnight after a federal inspection found ``several serious deficiencies'' in the low-cost carrier's operations, Federal Aviation Administration chief David Hinson said.
``We asked them to cease operations and they agreed to do so,'' Hinson said.
The length of the shutdown was not specified. It will affect thousands of passengers and employees and is expected to have an impact at Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport as well.
ValuJet called the request for a shutdown ``grossly unfair'' because it was unable to respond to the FAA concerns raised during an intensive 30-day investigation that included about 2,000 inspections. The airline said it hopes to resume service within 30 days.
The FAA's intense investigation was launched the day after the May 11 crash of Flight 592 into the Florida Everglades. All 110 peopleon board the DC-9 were killed.
Hinson said Atlanta-based ValuJet had failed to establish the airworthiness of some of its airplanes.
The FAA administrator cited systemwide deficiencies in ValuJet's maintenance program and the lack of engineering capability in it. In particular, he said there were ``multiple shortcomings'' in its quality control over the contractors it hired to do some of the maintenance work.
The company was quick to respond to the shutdown.
``ValuJet has already begun its return-to-service plan,'' ValuJet President Lewis Jordan said in a statement. ``But at this moment we cannot tell you exactly when we will resume service, or with how many flights.''
He said ValuJet will provide full refunds for customers with bookings for flights today and beyond.
ValuJet also said it would provide more information today about the status of airline employees.
The temporary suspension of flights is a blow to Newport News/ Williamsburg International Airport.
The Peninsula airport's supporters mounted a strong campaign last year to bolster passenger counts by attracting the discount carrier.
The city of Newport News courted ValuJet with almost $2 million in incentives and Virginia's Department of Aviation, in a move that miffed USAir, gave the no-frills carrier a $285,000 jetway. Jetways are mobile bridges between the airliner and the airport and usually have to be bought by the carrier.
The efforts helped the airport once the discount carrier opened on the Peninsula with aircraft and services. More than 1,000 people applied for the 200 jobs in the reservations center that TAD Aviation Services launched for ValuJet. It was the third reservations center in the fast-growing carrier's system.
The shutdown will also alter travel plans for thousands of tourists who were set to descend on Atlanta in the next few weeks as the city hosts the 1996 Summer Olympics. ValuJet, the second-busiest carrier at Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport, last week said its flights were booked solid for the Olympics, which run from July 19 to Aug. 4. MEMO: This story was compiled from reports by The Associated Press,
Bloomberg News Service, Knight-Ridder News Service and Virginian-Pilot
staff writer Ted Evanoff.
KEYWORDS: AIRLINES ACCIDENT PLANE by CNB