Alaska Airlines’ CEO has ripped Boeing in the wake of its recent near-disaster, revealing that loose bolts were found on “many” of the company’s 737 MAX 9 planes.
CEO Ben Minicucci said that a new internal inspection of Boeing models in the fleet had found that “many” of the planes had loose bolts.
“I’m angry. I’m more than upset and disappointed. I’m angry,” Minicucci told NBC News Tuesday. “This happened to Alaska Airlines. It happened to our guests and it happened to our people.
“And my request to Boeing is what they will do to improve the quality of their internal programs,” he added. “Boeing is better than this. Flight 1282 should never have happened.”
The CEO’s interview was the first since a door plug on Alaska Airlines’ 737 MAX 9 carrying 177 people lost its plug in the skies over Oregon during a flight to California on January 5, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing.
The Federal Aviation Administration has ordered all MAX 9 jets grounded and launched a safety investigation.
Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci revealed that loose bolts have been found on “many” of its Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes. NBC News Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 was forced to return to Portland International Airport after a fuselage panel exploded at 16,000 feet. AP Passengers’ oxygen masks hang from the roof next to the missing window and part of the side wall of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282. via REUTERS
The agency also announced an audit of production lines and aircraft suppliers “to assess Boeing’s compliance with approved quality procedures.”
FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker told CNBC that the agency has “boots on the ground” at the Boeing 737 MAX factory, adding that staff will remain there until they are confident that the quality control system is in place.
“We have a lot of inspectors on the ground, visually inspecting the aircraft as they come in,” Whitaker told the outlet on Tuesday at FAA headquarters. “We are moving from more of an audit approach to a direct inspection approach.
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators are examining the fuselage plug area of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 Boeing 737-9 MAX, which was recovered from Oregon property. via REUTERS Leani Benitez-Cardona, NTSB aerospace engineer, and Matthew Fox, NTSB chief technical advisor for materials, disassemble a door plug Sunday (Jan. 14) from Alaska Airlines flight 1282, a Boeing 737-9 MAX, in the materials laboratory at NTSB headquarters in Washington, DC NTSB/SWNS The CEO of Alaska Airlines said a new internal inspection of the airline’s Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft following the near miss earlier this month revealed that “many†of the plane were found to be loose. bolts. NBC News
“Until we are comfortable that [quality assurance] the system is working well … we will have boots on the ground,” he said.
Whitaker declined to comment on when he expected the plane to return to service.
“It’s hard to predict, so we’ve stopped trying. But as soon as we solve it, it will come back,” he told CNBC.
Minicucci told NBC News that Boeing must now improve its quality control and prevent such incidents from happening again.
Meanwhile, he said, the airline is incorporating its own additional oversight of the production line.
“We sent our audit staff to audit their quality control systems and processes to ensure that every plane that comes off that production line, that comes to Alaska has the highest level of excellence and quality,” he told the network.
The terrifying Alaska Airlines incident comes as Boeing is still trying to prove it has good quality control and safety procedures in place after two 737 MAX crashes that killed 346 people. Getty Images
The CEO said that while the airline is “in the middle” of planning to buy MAX 10s, the airline will now evaluate “what the best long-term strategic plan is for Alaska’s fleet mix” once the aircraft are certified.
“It is clear to me that we received an aircraft from Boeing with a damaged door,” he said.
“Now the NTSB investigation will find out why it was a faulty door, whether it was poor installation, missing hardware, a manufacturing issue, but there is no doubt that Alaska received airplanes off the production line with faulty doors,” Minicucci added.
The pilot made an emergency landing with 177 on board. Kelly Bartlett
Boeing told NBC News in a statement: “We have disappointed our airline customers and deeply regret the significant disruption to them, their employees and their passengers. We are taking action on a comprehensive plan to bring these airplanes back into service safely and to improve the quality and performance of our deliveries. We will follow the FAA’s lead and support our customers every step of the way.”
Meanwhile, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby also expressed frustration with Boeing, telling CNBC that it is considering a future for its fleet without the 737 MAX 10.
“I think the MAX 9 grounding may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back for us,” he said. “We’re going to build a plan that doesn’t have Max 10 in it.”
United also said it found additional loose bolts on its MAX 9 jets.
“I’m disappointed because… this continues to happen at Boeing. This is nothing new,” Kirby told CNBC. “We need Boeing to succeed. But they have experienced this consistent manufacturing challenge. They need to take action here.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
