On the afternoon of January 5, a Boeing 737 aircraft with flight number 1282 of Alaska Airlines (USA) was forced to make an emergency landing after a window and part of the fuselage were blown off in mid-air.
The incident caused the plane to lose a window and a large hole appeared on the fuselage. Fortunately, the situation was stabilized, the plane then landed safely in Portland (USA), only a few passengers were not seriously injured.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of the crash. FAA online records show the Boeing 737 Max 9 was certified two months ago.
For Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun, the incident is a major blow to the company's efforts to improve its business situation.
As soon as the incident occurred, Boeing's CEO had to cancel a senior leadership meeting and convene all employees and senior executives to find a way to resolve the incident.
“While Boeing has grown in recent years, situations like this are a reminder that we must remain focused on continuing to improve every day,” Calhoun stressed to his entire staff.
The emergency exit door was blown open on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 max 9 (Photo: Reuters).
Previously, Mr. Dave Calhoun, who has led Boeing since 2020, also shared that Boeing's development path is still bumpy.
"When we set out our recovery plan, we assumed that there would be issues along the way. Improving business operations takes time," he told his staff.
Before the incident, experts predicted that Boeing would deliver about 580 of its 737 jets in 2024, according to Bloomberg . That would be a big increase from the company’s 2023 target.
“I hope they get to the bottom of this quickly and see if this was truly a one-off incident,” Richard Healing, head of aviation safety engineering consulting firm Air Safety, told Bloomberg .
“If Boeing fails to resolve this issue, it will impact the company’s sales and its bottom line,” said George Ferguson, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.
Alaska Airlines canceled 170 flights on January 7 after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a flight suspension order for all Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft.
The cancellations on January 7 affected nearly 25,000 Alaska Airlines passengers, and the airline expects more cancellations in the first half of this week while the investigation is ongoing.
The FAA said it is requiring immediate inspections of all Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft before allowing them to return to service. The inspections will take between four and eight hours per aircraft. The FAA said the decision is to ensure passenger safety.
Boeing's 737 Max planes were grounded worldwide after two Max 8 crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed a total of 346 people. The FAA only allowed the planes to fly again after Boeing made changes to the plane's flight control system.
Source
Comment (0)