Boeing to add further quality inspections for 737 Max
Boeing is planning further quality inspections of its 737 Max aircraft after the accident this month in which a plug door blew off during a flight
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Boeing will add further quality inspections for the 737 Max after an accident earlier this month in which a plug door panel was blown off the fuselage of an airplane in flight, the head of its commercial airplanes division said Monday.
"As we continue to respond to the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 accident, our team has been working with the five affected airlines to inspect their 737-9 fleet," Stan Deal, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said in a message to employees. "They have been examining and collecting measurements around the mid-exit door plugs to ensure they are installed per specifications."
The planemaker will also deploy a team to supplier Spirit AeroSystems - which makes and installs the plug door involved in the incident - to check and approve Spirit's work on the plugs before fuselages are sent to Boeing's production facilities in Washington state, Deal said in the letter.
In addition to the door plug inspections, Boeing teams will conduct checks at 50 other points in Spirit's production process, Deal said.
ALASKA AIRLINES BEGINS PRELIMINARY INSPECTIONS ON ITS GROUNDED BOEING 737 MAX 9 FLEET
The fuselage plug area of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 Boeing 737-9 Max is seen during its investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board in Portland, Oregon, on Jan. 7, 2024. (NTSB/Handout via Reuters / Reuters Photos)
Meanwhile, both Boeing and Spirit will open their 737 production facilities to airline customers for carriers to provide their own inspections.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BA | THE BOEING CO. | 180.35 | +3.64 | +2.06% |
| SPR | SPIRIT AEROSYSTEMS | 30.90 | -2.01 | -6.11% |
Boeing will also hold sessions for employees on quality management, and bring in an outside party to conduct an independent assessment of its production process, Deal said. He noted that Boeing has increased the number of quality inspectors by 20% since 2019 and plans to make additional investments in its quality control units.
"Everything we do must conform to the requirements in our QMS (quality management system)," Deal wrote. "Anything less is unacceptable. It is through this standard that we must operate to provide our customers and their passengers complete confidence in Boeing airplanes."
BOEING CEO ‘FOUGHT BACK TEARS’ ADDRESSING EMPLOYEES AFTER ALASKA AIR INCIDENT
NTSB investigators are continuing their inspection on the Alaska Airlines N704AL Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft following a midair fuselage blowout on Friday, January 5. None of the 171 passengers and six crew members on Flight 1282 from Portland, Ore., t (Photo by Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Boeing's efforts are separate from the FAA's investigation into the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 accident and the regulator's plan to increase oversight of 737 Max 9 production.
A total of 171 Max 9 planes are currently grounded and the FAA plans to inspect 40 planes before reviewing the results to determine if safety is adequate to allow the Max 9's to resume flying.
United Airlines and Alaska Airlines, the two U.S. air carriers that operate the 737 Max 9, have canceled all flights involving the aircraft through Tuesday. Alaska began preliminary inspections on its fleet of 65 over the weekend, while United has 79 Max 9 aircraft in its fleet.
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| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UAL | UNITED AIRLINES HOLDINGS INC. | 53.02 | +0.33 | +0.63% |
| ALK | ALASKA AIR GROUP INC. | 43.29 | +0.12 | +0.28% |
The FAA on Thursday said that the 737 Max 9's grounding will continue and that, "The safety of the flying public, not speed, will determine the timeline for returning the Boeing 737-9 Max to service."
Reuters contributed to this report.