An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 on the tarmac at Renton airport, January 25, 2024 (AFP/Jason Redmond)
The American airline Alaska Airlines confirmed on Friday the resumption of flights of its Boeing 737 MAX 9, suspended after an incident on one of its planes on January 5, for a connection between Seattle and San Diego in the afternoon.
According to a message posted on its website, the company indicated that flight 1146, scheduled for Friday afternoon, would launch the gradual return to service of its fleet of 65 737 MAX 9 aircraft.
It must leave at 2:40 p.m. local time from Seattle (10:40 p.m. GMT, Washington State) to land in San Diego (California) at 5:05 p.m. (1:05 a.m. GMT), thus traveling the west coast of the United States from north to south.
Ben Minicucci, boss of Alaska Airlines, clarified Thursday, during an audio conference with analysts devoted to 2023 results, that he anticipated a resumption of these flights from Friday. The return to operation of the fleet should last until the beginning of February.
On January 5, a cap holder in the cabin of one of its Boeing 737 MAX 9 flying from Portland (Oregon) to Ontario (California) came loose in flight.
Airlines have the possibility of blocking a door when the number of existing emergency exits is sufficient in relation to the number of seats on the aircraft. This modification has been made on 171 of the 218 Boeing 737 MAX 9s delivered to date.
In the process, the American aviation regulatory agency (FAA) suspended the aircraft thus configured from flying until further notice.
The Boeing 737 MAX 9 (AFP/Jonathan WALTER, Jean-Michel CORNU)
The regulator announced Wednesday evening that it had established a “vast” maintenance and inspection program to allow these planes to return to the air.
It is only once the established plan is completed, “that the aircraft will be able to return to service,” said the FAA, without giving a date.
Alaska Airlines said Friday that the inspection of its fleet – up to a dozen hours per aircraft – should be completed “by the end of next week”.
“This will allow us to operate our flight program in full,” noted the company, which estimates that 3,000 flights will have been canceled in January due to the suspension, for financial consequences estimated at $150 million.
The American company United Airlines, which has the largest fleet of these reconfigured models (79), indicated Thursday that the first flight of one of its aircraft was scheduled for Sunday, while not ruling out a return to service later. early when needed.
Photo provided by the NTSB on January 8, 2024 showing the location of a door that came loose on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 in Portland (NTSB/AFP/Archives/Handout)
The American Transportation Safety Agency (NTSB), responsible for determining the circumstances of the January 5 incident, told AFP on Friday that one of its investigators was to return that same day to the Boeing factory in Renton (Washington State).
The team of investigators will “establish a chronology from the first stages of production of the cap holder to the in-flight accident,” said the agency, adding that they will also review the documentation linked to the aircraft (production and maintenance).
© 2024 AFP
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