With passage of the FAA reauthorization legislation growing more likely, the Aeronautical Repair Station Association (ARSA) continues to express concern about the effects of certain provisions on U.S. repair stations. The House bill would require “new oversight [and] drug and alcohol testing mandates,” according to ARSA, “and limitations on foreign repair stations licensed by the FAA would lead to
retaliation by trading partners.” If European officials carry through with their threat to withdraw from the bilateral safety agreements after passage of the new legislation, ARSA executive vice president Christian Klein said, “the annual cost for the average U.S. repair station to maintain approval from the [EASA] would rise from $960 to $37,500, an increase of 3,900 percent. If the FAA legislation passed by the House becomes law, it will become more difficult (and, in some cases impossible) for foreign repair stations to serve U.S. air carriers. Ultimately, this will have consequences for the entire U.S. aerospace industry and our whole economy.” The House and Senate now must meet to reconcile their versions of the reauthorization legislation, and ARSA said that “the Senate legislation is preferable” because “it honors safety agreements between the U.S. and other governments.”