Alaska Airlines resumed flying its grounded Boeing 737-9 MAX aircraft on Friday, just weeks after a horrific in-flight accident caused one of its flights to make an emergency landing. Ta.
Earlier this month, a plug door panel on an Alaska Airlines flight from Oregon to California exploded mid-flight, causing an oxygen mask to deploy. As a result, all Boeing 737-9 MAX aircraft were grounded for further quality control inspections.
Last week, Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci told NBC News that the airline had discovered “loose bolts on many of our MAX 9s.” United Airlines also reported finding loose bolts on some of its planes.
Despite the alarming findings, the Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday cleared the grounded aircraft to resume service after completing the inspection and maintenance process. The agency also announced it would not approve an expansion in production of Boeing’s MAX aircraft. FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said the agency’s enhanced review of the plane was “thorough.”
United Airlines, Aeromexico and Turkish Airlines also plan to resume flying MAX 9 aircraft soon, according to a recent letter from Boeing Commercial Airplanes President Stan Diehl.
“Our long-term focus is on improving quality to regain the trust of our customers, regulators and airline passengers. Frankly, we have disappointed and disappointed them,” Diehl said. ” he said. “We deeply apologize for the tremendous confusion and frustration caused to our customers, some of whom have been unfairly criticized publicly. We have been informed that they have announced that they will not be allowing increased production of “Quality control has improved.” We are aware of these issues and are working to fix them. ”
“Over the past century, Boeing employees have faced and overcame significant challenges, and this is one of them,” he continued. “We have to get better. We have to deliver the perfect airplane every time.”
Alaska Airlines has completed inspections of 65 MAX 9 aircraft and plans to resume service by the end of next week. fox business report.
“Each of our 737-9 MAX aircraft will return to service only after rigorous inspections have been completed and they are deemed fit to fly in accordance with FAA requirements,” Alaska Airlines said in a statement. “Individual inspections are expected to take up to 12 hours per aircraft.”
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