Alaska Airlines aims to shorten its 'turn times,' says it won't affect safety

Four years after the fatal crash of Flight 261, Alaska Airlines is launching an ambitious effort to quickly get planes off the tarmac and into the air.

The program, which begins Sunday, is named TANGO, for "Turn Aircraft 'N Go." The most visible change will be the boarding of regular passengers at one time instead of by rows. But it also will require mechanics, caterers and others on the ground to be ready when a plane arrives at the gate.

The aim is to standardize procedures and reduce "turn times": the time a plane sits on the ground as passengers exit and load. Alaska's minimum turn time has averaged 31 to 43 minutes, but the new plan is expected to cut that to 30 to 35 minutes on more than 150 of Alaska's 500 daily departures. In general, turn times will be cut by four to five minutes.

By accelerating turn times, Alaska hopes to gain up to 25 to 30 hours of flying time a day by the end of the year. That would allow Alaska to add up to 15 flights to its daily schedule without having to buy new airplanes.

Flight 261 crashed after Alaska's last major effort to increase flying time, when rapid growth in the 1990s led to maintenance delays, falsified paperwork and shoddy internal monitoring.

But Alaska officials are confident the new program won't compromise safety, saying the TANGO initiative should enhance it.

"It's more reliable, predictable and repeatable," said Dave Prewitt, Alaska's vice president for safety.

Flight 261 plunged into the Pacific Ocean off Southern California on Jan. 31, 2000, killing all 88 passengers and crew. The plane, an MD-83, was en route from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to San Francisco and Seattle when the pilots lost control.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) blamed the crash on Alaska's failure to lubricate a key component in the jet's tail. The board also found that the airline's maintenance programs had "widespread systemic deficiencies" at the time and that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had allowed Alaska to engage in risky maintenance practices.

Under post-crash pressure from the FAA, which threatened to shut down Alaska's repair facilities, Alaska revamped its maintenance programs and hired hundreds of mechanics five months after the accident.

FAA officials didn't respond to a request for comment on the TANGO program, which represents the boldest change in the company's daily flight operations since the crash.

Alaska's chief executive officer, Bill Ayer, recently credited TANGO, which was developed over the past six months by a 50-member task force, for allowing the airline to plan new daily flights between Seattle and Chicago beginning in April.

Alaska mechanics, who participated in the planning for TANGO, are closely watching the program, said a senior mechanic, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"Yes, there is a lot of concern," the mechanic said in an e-mail response to a Seattle Times inquiry. "Specifically, the amount of pressure it puts on the line technicians to 'turn' aircraft and the quality of visual checks."

Mechanics perform a "walk-around" before flights, looking for loose panels or other damage, and they check on problems written up by pilots.

Under TANGO, mechanics must be ready to immediately inspect an incoming plane and complete their work in 10 minutes. That will give them time to fix minor problems earlier, company officials said.

Alaska's pilots, who also helped develop TANGO, are open to the program, said Tony Salmon, a spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the union that represents the pilots.

But they will approach their job the same way they always have, he said.

"We're expecting pilots to do all the procedures and safety checks, and if that means they can't comply and get off early, that's fine," Salmon said.

ALPA was among Alaska's harshest critics after the crash, submitting a report to the NTSB that blasted the airline for risky maintenance procedures.

"The bottom line is that if the airplane is not safe, the pilot is not going to fly it," said Tara Elkins, an ALPA spokeswoman.

Alaska officials said they endorse that view. "If the pilot finds a discrepancy, most likely we'll take a delay," said George Bagley, Alaska's executive vice president of operations.

In addition, Bagley said, major maintenance will occur at the same intervals. Only now, he added, planes will reach their hourly limits in a shorter period of time.

When Alaska increased flight time in the 1990s, it put a strain on mechanics, prompting one whistle-blowing mechanic to complain that jets were being pushed out of the hangar too soon. Alaska was fined by the FAA, and two supervisors lost their federal licenses for falsifying paperwork.

In messages posted on its employee Web site, Alaska called TANGO a major step in the airline's drive to improve its operations.

"It will help us return to profitability, and transform Alaska Airlines for customers, employees and shareholders," Alaska's director of production support, Sandy Stelling, wrote in a Jan. 30 posting.

In a Dec. 30 posting, Stelling wrote, "What we're asking station employees to do is examine what can be eliminated, what can be done ahead of time and what can be done after the flight departs to reduce ground times and make their jobs easier."

"It's working smarter and taking the best front-line practices," said Ed White, Alaska's vice president of station operations.

Neither of the Web postings mentioned safety, although Stelling wrote in one, "We're not looking for a fire drill when an aircraft pulls up to the gate."

Initially, TANGO will be employed at 19 airports, including Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

Southwest Airlines, the country's major low-fare carrier, which has never had a fatal crash, has long had an informal program to turn flights in 25 to 30 minutes, said Whitney Echinger, a spokeswoman for the airline.

If a mechanical problem is found, flights are delayed, Echinger said.

It was competitive pressure from Dallas-based Southwest and other low-cost airlines that prompted Alaska to recast itself as low-fare carrier in the early 1990s.

One result was a significant boost in "block hours" — the time a jet is in active service. The average block hours for Alaska's fleet climbed from 8.2 hours per day in 1993 to 11.5 hours by 1998 — a 40 percent increase.

As with TANGO, the increased hours allowed Alaska to add more routes, and generate more revenue, without having to expand its fleet. But Alaska pulled back after the crash. Under TANGO, the airline said, block hours will jump from 10.5 hours last year to about 11.1 hours this year — an increase of 5.7 percent.

Steve Miletich: 206-464-3302 or smiletich@seattletimes.com