On an Alaska Airline flight Friday, a refrigerator-sized piece of the plane fell off the Boeing aircraft mid-flight.

January 11, 2024

How airlines are responding

As of now, it’s unclear how long the Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft will remain grounded. The sudden halt immediately affected airlines using the aircraft, especially United and Alaska, the two carriers with the highest volume of scheduled flights aboard the Boeing model, according to data from aviation analytics company Cirium. Airlines are responding with everything from flight cancellations to reimbursements.

United, which has 79 of the aircraft, canceled 90 flights on Saturday, 180 on Sunday, and about 200 Monday, but were able to “save” about 175 flights by switching to alternative aircraft. The carrier expects “significant cancellations” to continue Tuesday. The airline is offering full refunds or waiving change fees and fare differences for any passengers on affected flights scheduled through January 15 (tickets must have been purchased before January 6; some charges may apply for flights rescheduled after January 23 or with destination changes).

Over at Alaska, a systemwide flexible travel policy is in effect, meaning anyone with an original travel date through January 13 on a 737 Max 9 aircraft can reschedule their flight through January 20. Refunds will be offered if suitable alternatives can’t be found.

Passengers with upcoming flights aboard either airline should continue to check in with the carrier for the latest information.

Several international airlines also use the Boeing aircraft in their fleet, and despite not being subject to the FAA grounding unless they’re flying within the US, most have also responded to the incident in some manner. Copa Airlines, which had 2,603 scheduled flights this month per Cirium, has suspended 21 aircraft as of Saturday, and Aeromexico, which had 2,437 flights, tells Traveler that its 19 Boeing 737 Max 9 planes are in the “final phase of a detailed inspection” and should be back in operation “in the upcoming days.”

Turkish Airlines, which had 654 scheduled flights on the aircraft this month, decided to withdraw its five Boeing 737 Max 9 planes from operation for the time being, according to the airline’s spokesperson Yahya Üstün. As for Icelandair, which has 414 flights scheduled on the model, a representatives tells Traveler that the carrier has been in contact with Boeing and FAA, but “it has been confirmed that the issue is with equipment that is not part of Icelandair’s Max 9 configuration and as a result, our Max 9s are not affected by FAA’s requirements of inspection.” A spokesperson for Flydubai, with 342 flights scheduled, also confirmed that its 3 aircraft “are not affected” since it operates those “with a deactivated mid-aft exit door configuration, which is not referenced in the directive.”

How long will the 737 Max 9s be grounded?

“At this point, it’s unclear how long the grounding will last,” Harteveldt says, explaining that the FAA, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), and airlines all need to agree on the details of the inspection and required documentation. “My hope is that the planes will be back in service by the beginning of next week, if not slightly sooner.”

Both United and Alaska have begun necessary safety checks of the planes. During initial inspections, a United spokesperson tells Traveler, they removed two rows of seats and sidewall liner to access each door plug. In doing so, they “found instances that appear to relate to installation issues of the door plug,” such as bolts that needed to be tightened. United’s Tech Ops team is working on fixing the issues, the spokesperson says, with a team of five technicians spending several hours on each aircraft. Later Monday night, Alaska also issued a statement stating that “initial reports from our technicians indicate some loose hardware was visible on some aircraft.”

Until enhanced inspections are completed and corrective actions are taken, the planes will remain grounded.

This isn’t the first time Boeing’s 737 Max planes have been grounded by the FAA, as crashes in Indonesia in 2021 and Ethiopia in 2019 have also led to stoppages, Harteveldt says, noting that the agency also halted the Douglas DC-10 wide body jet in the 1970s because of a faulty cargo door design.

“The FAA doesn’t randomly ground aircraft,” he says. “It only does so when the agency believes there is a credible risk of an unknown problem, which the agency wants investigated and inspected as quickly as practical.” The swift action helps the agency reduce potential issues and “provides the possibility for a faster and more thorough inspection of the affected aircraft,” Harteveldt adds.

How can I find out if my flight is scheduled on a 737 Max 9?

To see what kind of aircraft your upcoming flight is on, most airlines list the model under flight information. For United, the information can be accessed via the United app by toggling the “Flight Details” tab or by looking under “Flight Info” on your trip details page on united.com. For Alaska, the info is under the “Details” section of the app. Flight tracking sites FlightAware also provides aircraft details on the right side of the page.

Note that the Boeing 737 Max 9 may also be referred to as a Boeing 737-9, but that the similarly named Boeing 737-900 is not part of the grounded fleet.

While it may be daunting to board an aircraft with safety concerns, Harteveldt says that once the Boeing 737 Max 9s return to service, “Travelers should feel confident that the planes are safe following their inspections.”

“Part of the NTSB and FAA’s investigations into the Alaska aircraft that experienced the problem will be to determine whether this was an aberration, and isolated to this individual aircraft, or whether it’s a more systemic problem,” Harteveldt tells Traveler.

As for the future of the Boeing 737 Max 9s, the manufacturer—which will be holding a company-wide safety meeting Tuesday—itself is fully in agreement with the FAA’s actions. “We agree with and fully support the FAA’s decision to require immediate inspections of 737-9 airplanes with the same configuration as the affected airplane,” a Boeing spokesperson tells Traveler. “Safety is our top priority and we deeply regret the impact this event has had on our customers and their passengers.”

Source : cntraveler

January 2024