Italy launches plane spares probe

Major airlines buy parts off producers

By CNN's Rome bureau chief Alessio Vinci

ROME, Italy (CNN) -- Selling used aircraft spare parts is not illegal, but Italian police have uncovered a scheme they say involves illegally certified second-hand spares.

Italian financial police say the illegal spare parts business is worth millions of dollars.

In recent months they have raided an airport warehouse, and say they have seized five freight containers with thousands of used airplane parts ready to be shipped to the United States.

Investigators believe the seized spare parts were defective, handled by unqualified personnel or illegally certified.

Three companies are under investigation, the largest being Rome-based Panaviation.

Lieutenant Colonel Aniello Albano, of the Italian financial police, said: "Panaviation was not following the regulations...It had a workshop where spare parts were repaired, rust was being removed to make them appear newer, and their quality was established by false certification."

Panaviation lawyers deny any wrongdoing, saying purchasers are responsible for what they buy.

But investigators accuse Panaviation of misleading customers.

Albano added: "Companies want to buy spare parts where they know the true origin and the true quality. Pieces coming from crashed planes must be clearly marked, and they were not."

Some spare parts came from a firefighting aircraft that had crashed in Sicily in 1996 and was then purchased by Panaviation from a scrapyard, investigators say.

The wings are labelled "unserviceable." But investigators say other parts from the plane were about to be sold with no record of their true origin.

Investigators are trying to establish whether any of the spare parts, labelled unserviceable, made it into the market with fake certification.

Italian investigators say they have no evidence linking recent air crashes with faulty spare parts.

Meanwhile, Italian aviation officials have warned airlines around the world to verify if they have purchased parts from the companies under investigation.

Alfredo Roma, of the Italian Civil Aviation Authority, said: "The question is how many planes are flying around the world using illegal spare parts or not checked spare parts. But on the other side I'm not terribly concerned because the major airlines, they buy directly from the producers.. Boeing or Airbus."

It is safe to fly, air safety officials say, but they admit there is an urgent need for new regulations in the spare parts business -- if anything, for the passengers' peace of mind.