The Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci has said the airline found loose bolts on many of the 737 MAX 9 jets that their Engineering team inspected following the incident with Alaska fllight 1281 on Jan 5 2024.
"I'm angry. I'm more than frustrated and disappointed. I am angry," he told media sources. "This happened to Alaska Airlines. It happened to our guests and happened to our people."
"I'm angry. I'm more than frustrated and disappointed. I am angry," he told media sources. "This happened to Alaska Airlines. It happened to our guests and happened to our people."
The Alaska Airlines CEO further demanded that Boeing immediately clarify what the aircraft manufacturer intended to do to improve their in-house quality control processes.
The incident also prompted lawmakers to question whether Boeing's quality control systems are adequate.
In a written statement to Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun earlier this month, Sen. Ed Markey, J.D. Vance & Peter Welch said “Given the previous tragic crashes of Boeing 737 Max aircraft, we are deeply concerned that the loose bolts represents a systemic issue with Boeing’s ability to manufacture safe airplanes”.
Following the incident, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered all Boeing Max9 planes grounded and launched theiir own investigation. Further, The agency also announced a separate audit of Boeing's 737Max production line and suppliers like Spirit Aero Systems in order to "evaluate Boeing’s compliance with its approved quality procedures.".
There is still no timeline available publicly for when the MAX9 will return to service because the FAA has not yet issued specific maintenance orders. As a result, the MAX9, a stretch variant of the very popular 737 MAX8 remains grounded. Alaska is the worst affected with the grounding of the MAX9 as they operate over 65 aircraft of this stretch variant.
Further, United Airlines, which has orders for over 277 MAX10 aircraft, a further stretched variant has publicly said that it is reconsidering a future fleet plan "without the MAX10".
The MAX10 is the largest variant of the 737MAX. It has not yet entered production and will only be certified after the smaller MAX7 variant is certified and enters production.
Both the MAX7 and MAX10 variants are expected to see significant delays in service entry. Airlines like United may thus be forced to look at ordering the competing Airbus A321NEO if the MAX10 delivery schedule slips past 2025.
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