Lufthansa Technik insists planes serviced at Manila facility safe

MANILA, Philippines—Lufthansa Technik Philippines (LTP) said the deficiencies noted by the US Federal Aviation Authority in its May audit did not jeopardize the safety of planes serviced at the Manila facility.

A Manila-based official also questioned the intention of the group—a labor union in the US that opposes the outsourcing of jobs to countries like the Philippines—in releasing the results of the FAA audit.

“It’s not unusual that regulators have criticisms whenever they make audits. But the deficiencies pointed out in the audit have nothing to do with the safety of the aircraft we service in the country,” LTP marketing communications manager Liza Martija said in an interview.

In a prepared statement, LTP said it “meets international regulatory requirements and holds more than 20 approvals by different regulatory authorities including the US-FAA, European EASA, Australian CASA and Japanese JCAB.”

“These authorities have confirmed that LTP meets their requirements for maintenance, repair and overhaul of commercial aircraft and components,” LTP said. “These valid approvals from more than 20 authorities allows LTP to maintain and overhaul aircraft coming from Asia, Africa, Australia, North and South America and Europe,” the company added.

The company said it treated the FAA’s findings as an opportunity to further improve the company’s operations to meet and even exceed international best practices.

According to its official website, Lufthansa Technik Philippines was founded in 2000 as a joint venture of Lufthansa Technik AG and Philippine aviation service provider MacroAsia Corp.  The company says it “offers a wide range of aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services to customers worldwide.”