ValuJet May Be Back in the Air Next Week

ValuJet Airlines, grounded since June, has improved its maintenance operations and will be permitted to resume some flights, perhaps as early as next week, federal regulators said Thursday.

The Federal Aviation Administration said it has reviewed the discount airline’s revised maintenance and operations programs and will permit ValuJet to resume flights with nine to 15 aircraft in seven days unless serious objections are raised from “interested parties.”

The Atlanta-based airline had 51 planes in the air until it agreed to suspend all flights on June 18 in the wake of a DC-9 crash in the Florida Everglades on May 11. All 110 people aboard were killed.

The Transportation Department, the FAA’s parent, also issued a tentative finding Thursday that ValuJet is economically sound and that its top executives are qualified to continue running the company.

Transportation officials said they had found no reason to accede to a demand by Susan Clayton, president of the Atlanta chapter of the Assn. of Flight Attendants, that Lewis Jordan be removed as company president.

If credible objections to ValuJet’s new maintenance procedures are raised within the next week, FAA officials said, the resumption of flights could be delayed as the complaints are reviewed.

Seeking to assure the public that ValuJet is airworthy, the FAA said that the airline has passed an “intensive review” of its improved maintenance system and will be subjected to special oversight by additional federal inspectors.

Bill White, FAA deputy director of flight standards services, said the agency returned ValuJet’s operating certificate because the company “addressed and completed all the items outlined in the consent order” that had grounded the company’s planes in June.

“They are in compliance with the safety regulations,” White said. “It’s up to ValuJet to maintain the safe operation of the aircraft.”

When the airline resumes flights, it will be supervised by seven full-time FAA inspectors, three more than before the grounding. Initially, the company will use the same McDonnell Douglas DC-9 planes it operated previously.

“The airline also has sharply reduced the number of outside contractors it will use,” the agency said, referring to findings that some contractors had performed substandard work. Investigators have not yet determined officially the cause of the Flight 592 crash; it apparently resulted from a fire in the forward cargo hold, where 119 oxygen generators were stored. Because none of the generators was equipped with a safety cap, a volatile mix of chemicals could have sparked or fueled a fire, investigators said. The airline was not authorized to carry the canisters.

FAA officials required ValuJet to revise its organizational structure, hire more of its own maintenance and management personnel and reexamine the training of all pilots, instructors and air crews.

ValuJet shares rose 50 cents to $11 in Nasdaq trading Thursday.