faq
After the near-disaster of the Boeing 737 MAX 9, the model is under close observation by the US authorities. Does the incident also have consequences for European airlines and passengers?
How many aircraft of this type are in use worldwide?
Due to the incident with a Boeing 737 MAX 9 on January 6th, the US aviation authority FAA imposed a flight ban on 171 aircraft of the series in the USA. According to the air traffic analysis service Cirium, around 215 aircraft of this type are in operation worldwide. United Airlines’ fleet includes 79 of these aircraft, making it the largest in the world. Alaska Airlines uses 65 aircraft of this type.
In addition to United Airlines and Alaska Airlines, the Boeing 737 MAX 9 is also flown by Copa Airlines from Panama, among others. Aeromexico, Flydubai, the Kazakh airline SCAT, Turkish Airlines, Icelandair and the Indonesian airline Lion Air also used some Boeing 737 MAX 9s. According to a spokeswoman, Lufthansa does not operate the Boeing 737 MAX 9 and has not ordered one.
How did European ones Aviation Safety Authority Reacts?
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has taken over the US grounding of Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft, it said in a statement. However, the authority also writes that, to its knowledge, no airline in the EASA member states flies such an aircraft in the specifically affected configuration. The members of EASA are the EU states as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. The British aviation authority CAA also stated that this type of aircraft was not in use in Great Britain.
What is special about the affected aircraft type?
The Boeing 737 MAX 9 is produced in different versions, which differ in the number of seats. If the version with a larger number of seats is chosen, the number of emergency exits required increases. This model is the standard version of the Boeing 737 MAX 9. But there are also versions for fewer passengers. One such flight was flown by Alaska Airlines.
In the configuration in which the damage occurred, an exit in the middle of the cabin was replaced by a placeholder, writes EASA. This type is usually adopted by airlines that fly with lower passenger capacity. Here, this additional exit is not necessary to meet the safety requirements for the evacuation, it goes on to say.
This emergency exit cover plate is attached to the aircraft with twelve fittings. Four bolts prevent vertical movement. “The door moved up and came away from the stops, causing the hardware to break,” said Clint Crookshanks, an engineer with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
What are they doing? Airlines?
The airline Icelandair announced on Monday that it was not affected by the FAA grounding of Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft. “It has been confirmed that the issue is related to equipment that is not part of Icelandair’s Boeing 737 MAX 9 configuration,” Reuters news agency quoted a spokesman for the airline as saying. Icelandair operates four aircraft of this type, all with emergency exits.
It is also installed in the version flown by Lion Air. Nevertheless, the planes remain on the ground for the time being. In the fall of 2018, a Lion Air 737-8 Max crashed, killing everyone on board.
Turkish Airlines announced that it was checking its five aircraft. Until the technical investigation has been completed and the measures required by the authorities have been taken, Turkish Airlines has decided to withdraw the five Boeing 737 Max 9s from its fleet from operation, the information portal “aeroTELEGRAPH” quotes a spokesman for Turkish Airlines.
What’s next for Boeing?
It currently looks as if the defects identified could potentially be a more serious problem. The airline Alaska Airlines, like United Airlines, had discovered loose fastening parts in the areas in question on other aircraft. The NTSB is initially focusing on the affected aircraft, but will not hesitate to make more comprehensive safety recommendations if necessary as the investigation progresses, said agency chief Jennifer Homendy.
“First and foremost, we need to find out what happened to this plane,” said Homendy. If there is a major system-wide or fleet-wide problem, the NTSB will issue an urgent safety recommendation to bring about change.
What consequences does the incident have for Boeing’s reputation?
The security-related incidents of the past few years are becoming more and more of a problem for the US company. Just last December, Boeing instructed operators of newer 737 Max jets to check the rudders of their aircraft for loose fasteners.
There had previously been problems due to production errors at the supplier Spirit Aerosystems. Spirit Aerosystems had improperly drilled holes in the rear pressure bulkhead of many aircraft, which is important for maintaining cabin air pressure. Employees then had to check and repair hundreds of drill holes on each machine.
The head of Boeing’s major customer Ryanair, Michael O’Leary, called on the US company to improve its quality controls in an interview with the Financial Times. Ryanair operates an all-737 fleet. Everything is fine with the low-cost airline’s fleet, says O’Leary. “But she doesn’t need this kind of short-term reputational problem.”