H-1B, H-2B, and Offshore Outsourcing in Aviation – it’s more pervasive than you think

Many Americans first became aware of Aviation’s H-1B and Offshore Outsourcing with the Boeing 737 Max crashes killing 346, which resulted from a failure of a critical piece of software called MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System). Boeing outsourced MCAS development to 9 $/hr engineers in India (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-28/boeing-s-737-max-software-outsourced-to-9-an-hour-engineers).

What many don’t realize the breadth & depth of H-1B, H-2B, & offshore outsourcing in aviation – from Federal Aviation Administration, airport operators, airlines, to aircraft manufacturers, filling research, maintenance & documentation, piloting, and design roles. Aviation is quite safe but unforgiving of mistakes – are H-1B, H-2B, and offshore outsourcing in aviation potential mistakes?

Federal Aviation Administration H-1B

The Federal Aviation Administration is the US Department of Transportation agency responsible for regulating civilian aviation, including certifying civilian airmen (pilots, co-pilots, flight engineers, and aircraft mechanics). FAA subcontracted H-1B instead of hiring Americans to partially fulfill these functions – http://guestworkervisas.com/browseEmployerSec.php?employer=Federal+Aviation&address=&year=2024H1B&submit4=Submit+Query and http://guestworkervisas.com/browseEmployerSec.php?employer=FAA+William+J.+Hughes+Technical+Federal+Government+Office&address=&year=2024H1B&submit4=Submit+Query show two examples from 2024.

Airport Operators’ Direct Hire / Subcontracted H-1B

Multiple airport operators employ direct hire and/or subcontracted H-1B. Examples include Allegheny County Airport Authority – operates Pittsburgh International Airport and Allegheny County Airport, Pittsburgh PA – employs direct hire H-1B (https://h1bdata.info/index.php?em=allegheny+county+airport+authority&job=&city=&year=all+years); Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority – operates Washington Dulles International Airport and Washington Reagan National Airport, Washington DC – employs both direct hire (https://h1bdata.info/index.php?em=metropolitan+washington+airports+authority&job=&city=&year=all+years) and subcontracted H-1B (http://guestworkervisas.com/browseEmployerSec.php?employer=metropolitan+washington+airports+authority&address=&year=2024H1B&submit4=Submit+Query); Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Phoenix AZ – employs subcontracted H-1B (http://guestworkervisas.com/browseEmployerSec.php?employer=Sky+Harbor+Int&address=&year=2024H1B&submit4=Submit+Query); and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey – operates LaGuardia Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, Teterboro Airport, and Stewart International Airport, as well as various toll bridges & tunnels – employs subcontracted H-1B (https://guestworkervisas.com/browseEmployerSec.php?employer=Port+Authority+of+New+York+and+New+Jersey&address=&year=2024H1B&submit4=Submit+Query).

Airlines, Flying Services H-1B, H-2B, And Offshore Outsourcing

Of greater concern is airlines and flying services filling critical aviation roles with H-1B, H-2B, and offshore outsourcing.

Regular aircraft maintenance is a mandatory necessity in aviation, especially commercial aviation, yet Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines all offshore outsource portions of their aircraft maintenance (https://www.forbes.com/sites/tedreed/2018/04/06/amount-of-outsourced-offshore-airline-maintenance-work-has-risen-report-says/). It has been asserted that the Federal Aviation Administration exerts less oversight on these foreign repair stations than on domestic stations, and these foreign repair stations have lower worker qualification and licensing standards. Unfortunately, the FAA has not tracked these numbers for nearly 20 years so exact figures are not available.

Maintaining accurate logs of maintenance performed is a FAA requirement, yet Delta Airlines has outsourced that function to IBM spin-off H-1B using Kyndryl (https://simpleflying.com/delta-air-lines-signs-it-boost-resiliency/).

Aviation visa workers are not limited to just large airlines – also extends to smaller flying services. Examples:
H-1B Helicopter Pilots (https://h1bdata.info/index.php?em=&job=helicopter+pilot&city=&year=all+years);

H-1B and H-2B Aircraft Mechanics (https://h1bdata.info/index.php?em=&job=aviation+maintenance+technician&city=&year=all+years , https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ETA/oflc/pdfs/H-2B_Disclosure_Data_FY2022_Q3.xlsx – FY 2022 Q3 shown).

Aircraft Manufacturers H-1B and Offshore Outsourcing

Perhaps of greatest concern is H-1B and Offshore Outsourcing in both commercial aviation and general aviation manufacturing. Three examples (Boeing, Archer Aviation, Textron Aviation’s Beechcraft and Cessna) will be presented here.

Despite the 737 Max MCAS outsourcing fiasco, Boeing continues to use direct hire/subcontracted H-1B (see https://h1bdata.info/index.php?em=the+boeing+company&job=&city=&year=all+years , https://h1bdata.info/index.php?em=boeing&job=&city=&year=all+years , and http://guestworkervisas.com/browseEmployerSec.php?employer=Boeing&address=&year=2024H1B&submit4=Submit+Query), offshore outsourcing in the design, manufacturing, conversion, and maintenance of its aircraft (see https://www.boeing.co.in/boeing-in-india#anchor1 , https://english.www.gov.cn/news/202404/15/content_WS661c7c08c6d0868f4e8e60d7.html , and https://www.boeingshanghai.com/). Boeing also directly shipped 6,070 Americans’ jobs to India and China (http://guestworkervisas.com/vjbindia.php and http://guestworkervisas.com/vjbchina.php).

(Partial H-1B lists shown below)

Boeing Offshore Outsourcing to India and China.

Archer Aviation is an electric VTOL air taxi startup manufacturer; headquarters in Santa Clara, California, manufacturing facility in Covington, Georgia. One of its suppliers, FACC, is based in Austria. Archer Aviation employs both direct hire H-1B (https://h1bdata.info/index.php?em=archer+aviation+inc&job=&city=&year=all+years ; partial list shown below) and subcontracted H-1B (https://guestworkervisas.com/browseEmployerSec.php?employer=Archer+Aviation&address=&year=2024H1B&submit4=Submit+Query)

Textron Aviation’s Beechcraft and Cessna are two iconic American general aviation manufacturers. Both are based in Wichita Kansas and founded nearly 100 years ago. Both were acquired by Textron Aviation in 2014; Textron employs both direct hire H-1B (https://h1bdata.info/index.php?em=textron+aviation+inc&job=&city=&year=all+years) and subcontracted H-1B (https://guestworkervisas.com/browseEmployerSec.php?employer=TEXTRON+AVIATION&address=&year=2024H1B&submit4=Submit+Query).

Beechcraft & Cessna parent company Textron Aviation offshored 2,748 Americans’ jobs to China (https://guestworkervisas.com/vjbchina.php), Mexico, and United Kingdom (https://guestworkervisas.com/vjbmexico.php) as well.

(Any and all © copyrights, ™ trademarks, or other intellectual property (IP) mentioned/used here are the property of their respective owners. No infringement is intended. Thanks to Virgil Bierschwale’s https://guestworkervisas.com for subcontracted H-1B and jobs offshored links.)

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Published by Rodney Roberts