MAS to check Boeing 737s

MALAYSIA Airlines Bhd (MAS) has pledged to continue inspecting and maintaining its fleet to ensure there are no safety risks to passengers.

The airline yesterday said it would adhere to the requirements by Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in its maintenance programme and perform thorough inspections of its Boeing 737 aircraft.

“MAS has been informed by Boeing and the FAA to inspect the airframe structure of its Boeing 737NGs that are at or above 22,600 total flight cycles.

“The oldest affected aircraft of this model in the fleet has a total of 18,362 flight cycles.

“Though all MAS B737s are below the aforementioned threshold, the airline will incorporate this requirement in its maintenance programme and will be performing detailed inspections of its B737 fleet.”

MAS said this in response to the grounding of at least three Ryanair B737s due to cracks between the wing and fuselage.

A report by The Guardian on Wednesday said Ryanair, the Irish budget carrier, was the latest to be affected by cracks in the “pickle fork” structure, resulting in 50 planes being grounded since Oct 3.

Ryanair, however, refused to confirm the number of affected planes.

MAS said: “Should any of the aircraft be found to have this issue, it will be grounded until the defect is repaired and that there is no additional safety risk posed to our passengers,” it said, adding that the airline had 48 Boeing 737NGs.

The portal reported that Qantas and Southwest had disclosed the number of planes affected by the cracks.