Westjet 737 Max flight grounded due to warning light
Airline says it's `100 per cent confident' in safety of troubled Boeing aircraft
The day after introducing the aircraft back to its fleet, Westjet halted a Boeing 737 Max jet scheduled to fly from Calgary to Toronto Friday after a warning light came on before takeoff.
The company confirmed Westjet Flight 658 was returned to the gate after the warning appeared following boarding and a normal engine start, at which time guests disembarked the plane.
“A standard function of the health monitoring system indicated a potential fault that needed to be verified and reset,” said Westjet spokesperson Lauren Stewart.
“This process takes time and requires a subsequent engine run, which we do not perform with guests on board.”
The flight and the plane's return trip to Calgary, Westjet Flight 665, were both cancelled, and flyers were rebooked on another flight to Toronto that arrived Friday afternoon. The company apologized for the inconvenience.
The Friday flight was slated to be Westjet's third commercial trip of a Boeing 737 Max since Transport Canada cleared the aircraft for return to the sky earlier this week, following nearly two years of review into the safety of the jets.
That model of planes had been involved in two deadly crashes: a Lion Air flight near Jakarta on Oct. 29, 2018, and an Ethiopian Airlines flight on March 10, 2019, killing a combined 346 people. The crashes were caused by a faulty computer system which Boeing has since changed.
Westjet said maintenance workers have already cleared the aircraft for flight, with plans for it to return to service Sunday.
The company owns 13 Boeing 737 Max jets, making up eight per cent of its fleet. The planes will fly three round trips between Calgary and Toronto per week for about a month, at which point Westjet said it would consider increasing routes and frequencies.
Westjet introduced a policy allowing flexible flight changes or cancellations for those uncomfortable with flying on one of the jets, but assured it was “100 per cent confident” in the safety of the planes.
Air Canada also has a fleet of 24 Boeing 737 Max planes, nine of which it has sold or leased back. The company plans to resume use of the aircraft on Feb. 1.