The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
Current Temperature
39°F
Current Conditions
Broken clouds
View complete weather report

Color Scheme

Subscribe now

Boeing issues Max 9 inspection memo in step to ungrounding jets

The tail of a Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliner. (David Ryder/Bloomberg)
By Julie Johnsson and Siddharth Philip Bloomberg

Boeing Co. has issued a detailed bulletin to operators of its 737 Max 9 jetliners outlining the inspections needed in the wake of a mid-air structural failure on an Alaska Airlines flight, according to people briefed on the matter.

The so-called multi-operator message, which required the approval of US regulators, is the first step toward returning the partially grounded fleet of single-aisle aircraft to service.

Boeing shares traded down 6.7% as of 11:13 a.m. on Monday in New York after an earlier decline of as much as 9.3%. Supplier Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc. fell 7.1% after sliding as much as 16%.

Alaska Air and United Airlines Holdings Inc., the two biggest operators of the Max 9 variant, had said earlier that they were waiting for guidance from the Federal Aviation Administration for the checks.

The airlines had taken all their Max 9 aircraft offline after the Jan. 5 accident, and taken preliminary steps such as removing interior panels to ready the planes for inspections. The checks are expected to take 4-8 hours each, suggesting the airlines will be able to quickly restore services after grounding hundreds of flights.

The mishap occurred when a door-shaped panel ripped out as Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 climbed out of Portland, Oregon. The aircraft reached an altitude of about 16,000 feet before turning around and landing back in Portland about 20 minutes after takeoff. No one was seriously injured, an outcome National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy said was pure luck.

In a message to Boeing employees on Monday, Stan Deal, Boeing’s commercial airplanes chief, and Mike Delaney, the company’s chief safety officer, confirmed that the multi-operator message had been shared with airlines. They noted that the assembly of the door plug that’s being inspected is not found on other jets in the 737 Max family.

About 171 aircraft are affected by the FAA grounding. Reuters reported earlier that the directive was shared around 3 a.m. Pacific time.