The Federal Aviation Administration issued a warning late Sunday to airlines operating Boeing 737-900ER aircraft to ensure door plugs are properly secured after some airlines reported unspecified problems with the bolts during inspections. It was recommended that a test be conducted to confirm that the
The advisory comes after the FAA grounded 171 Boeing 737 Max 9 jets after a door plug on an eight-week-old Alaska Airlines Max 9 jet exploded in the cabin on January 5. This is in response to this.
Boeing stock fell 2.5% in premarket trading Monday. It has fallen 17.5% since the beginning of the year.
Although the 737-900ER is not part of the new Max fleet, it features the same optional door plug design that allows for additional exit doors to be added if airlines choose to install more seats.
FAA issues 'safety alert for operators' and reveals some airlines are conducting additional inspections of mid-exit door plugs on 737-900ERs and 'noticed bolt findings during maintenance inspections' did.
It advised airlines to carry out a critical part of the aircraft plug assembly maintenance procedure “as soon as possible”, which relates to the four bolts used to secure the door plug to the aircraft.
“We fully support the FAA and our customers in this action,” a Boeing spokesperson said in an email. Boeing delivered its first 737-900ER in 2007 and the last one in 2019.
Alaska Airlines and United Airlines, the only U.S. airlines using the Max 9, announced this month that they had discovered loose parts on multiple grounded Max 9 aircraft during preliminary inspections. Thousands of flights had to be canceled this month due to the grounding.
The FAA announced Sunday that the Max 9 planes will be grounded until “it is determined that they can be safely returned to service.”
United Airlines announced Sunday that it is extending the cancellation of its Max 9 flights through January 26th. Alaska Airlines, whose Max 9 planes account for 20% of its fleet, had previously canceled all flights through Sunday. The airline did not immediately comment on how long it planned to extend the cancellations.
900ER disruptions are rare.
In contrast to the new Max 9, which had fewer flights and suffered from door plug problems, the Boeing 737-900ER has more than 11 million operating hours and 3.9 million flight cycles. The FAA said the door plugs were “not a problem for this model.”
United Airlines and Alaska Airlines announced that they have begun inspecting door plugs on their 737-900ER aircraft.
United Airlines, which has a fleet of 136 737-900ER aircraft, said it expects the inspections to be completed “within a few days without disruption to customers.”
The state of Alaska said inspections began several days ago, there have been no findings to date, and it expects to “complete the remaining -900ER fleet without interruption of operations.”
Delta Air Lines, which operates the 900ER aircraft, said it “chose to take proactive steps to inspect its 737-900ER aircraft” and does not expect any impact to its operations.
Globally, three U.S. airlines operate the majority of 737-900ERs with door plugs.
On Wednesday, the FAA announced it had completed inspections of an initial group of 40 Boeing 737 Max 9 jets, a key hurdle to ultimately grounding the model. The FAA continues to review data from these inspections before deciding when to return the aircraft to flight.
FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker told Reuters this month that the agency is “in the process of exploring ways to restore confidence in the integrity of the plug door.”
National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said last week that the agency would examine numerous records related to the door plugs. He said it was unclear whether the bolts on the Alaska Airlines jet were properly secured or were actually attached.
