Air France Suspends Maintenance in China

Air France suspended maintenance of its aircraft by China’s Taeco on safety concerns raised by finding 30 screws missing from one of its planes, it announced Thursday.

The screws were found missing from a protective panel of an A340 plane after a full service by Taeco in mid-November. Air France is currently awaiting the results of an investigation which it expects to take a few days. Taeco itself has launched its own probe.

Taeco, based in Xiamen in southeastern China, has been servicing Air France’s Boeing 747 planes for over four years, but the incident involved the second Airbus A340 on which it had performed a full service. Taeco performs between five and seven full services of plane per year on average for Air France.

A full service is required every six years by aviation safety regulations. The process requires taking apart the entire plane and checking every component for wear and damage. It takes over a month and costs several million dollars, according to Air France.

Air France had grounded a Boeing 747-400 in 2010 following a full service in China after some of the plane’s surfaces were found to have been repainted using potentially flammable paint. The plane had been in the skies for over three weeks in that condition.

Taeco is a leading service company for long-haul planes in China. Its customers include British Airways, American Airlines, JAL, Emirates and Lufthansa.