US aviation agency launches formal inquiry into Boeing’s 737 Max 9
Boeing is facing a formal investigation into whether it made sure 737 Max 9 planes were “in a condition for safe operation” after a cabin panel blew off during an Alaska Airlines flight.
“This incident should have never happened, and it cannot happen again,” the Federal Aviation Administration said, announcing an investigation into whether the planemaker “failed to ensure” the jets complied with safety regulations.
The FAA grounded 171 737 Max 9 planes with plug doors over the weekend. “The safety of the flying public, not speed” will determine how quickly they return to the skies, the FAA said.
It comes after a cabin panel blew out of a new Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 on Friday, shortly after it had taken off from Portland, Oregon, forcing an emergency landing. No serious injuries were reported. A chunk of the fuselage was recovered from an Oregon teacher’s backyard.
Dave Calhoun, Boeing’s chief executive, has stressed it must acknowledge “our mistake” while regulators examine the grounded planes. In a statement on Thursday, the company said: “We will cooperate fully and transparently with the FAA and the [National Transportation Safety Board] on their investigations.” The FAA notified Boeing on Wednesday that it had launched an investigation “to determine if Boeing failed to ensure completed products conformed to its approved design and were in a condition for safe operation in compliance with FAA regulations”.
The investigation is a result of Friday’s incident and “additional discrepancies”, the FAA said in a statement. “Boeing’s manufacturing practices need to comply with the high safety standards they’re legally accountable to meet.”
Shares in Boeing, which have already declined sharply this week, were trading down by 1.7% on the New York stock exchange on Thursday.
Boeing has repeatedly stressed this week that safety is its “top priority”, and Calhoun praised regulators during a company town hall on Monday. “We’re going to approach this, number one, acknowledging our mistake,” he told employees. “We are going to approach it with 100% and complete transparency, every step of the way.”
The company is now grappling with its biggest safety crisis since the crashes of two Max 8 jets, in 2018 and 2019, in which 346 people were killed. Its 737 Max jets were subsequently grounded across the world for almost two years.
Alaska and United said on Monday they had found loose parts on multiple grounded aircraft during preliminary checks, raising new concerns about how Boeing’s bestselling jet family is manufactured.
The carriers still need revised inspection and maintenance instructions from Boeing that must be approved by the FAA before they can begin flying the planes again.
Boeing on Tuesday told staff the findings were being treated as a “quality control issue” and checks were under way at Boeing and supplier Spirit AeroSystems, Reuters reported previously.
The US transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, declined to say on Wednesday when the FAA may allow the planes to resume flights but said it would only happen when it was deemed safe to do so.
“The only consideration on the timeline is safety,” Buttigieg told reporters. “Until it is ready, it is not ready. Nobody can or should be rushed in that process.”