Mr Blinken and his crew boarded the Boeing 737 in Zurich on Wednesday after a day and a half of meetings at the World Economic Forum in Davos. However, the plane encountered a problem and everyone was forced to disembark.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken disembarks from a plane after arriving at Cheddi Jagan International Airport for an official visit to Georgetown, Guyana, in July 2023. Photo: AFP
A different, smaller plane will take Mr. Blinken back to Washington. State Department spokesman Matt Miller said Wednesday that the Boeing 737 had mechanical problems. He said Mr. Blinken was still expected to return to Washington Wednesday evening.
This is the latest blow to Boeing's reputation. On January 5, an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 lost a latch on its side exit door while the plane was flying at 16,000 feet, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the plane.
Fortunately, no one was sitting next to the hole, so no one was seriously injured. However, the incident led to the grounding of all 737 Max 9 aircraft while authorities inspected them for possible assembly defects and loose or missing bolts.
While the cause of that crash is still under investigation, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun has admitted that “mistakes” by Boeing led to the incident.
The Alaska Air plane was a newer version of the 737 than the one Mr. Blinken was supposed to be on. The 737 that Mr. Blinken was on was an older model modified for military use. The newer version, the 737 Max, had been plagued by serious problems long before the Alaska Air incident this month.
Two 737 Max crashes, in 2018 in Indonesia and early 2019 in Ethiopia, killed all 346 people on board and led to the aircraft being grounded for 20 months while Boeing worked to fix the design flaw that caused the crashes.
But it has had other quality issues since returning to service following the Alaska Air incident. In December, Boeing asked airlines to inspect all of its 737 Max planes for a possible loose bolt in the rudder system, which is critical for controlling the plane in the air, after one airline discovered a potential problem with a key component on two of the planes.
In recent years, Boeing has also had quality issues that led to the suspension of deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner. In addition, its 777 aircraft was temporarily grounded due to engine failure, causing debris to fall while flying in the state of Colorado, USA.
Mai Anh (according to CNN)
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