[ad_1]
Early indications are that it was an isolated incident – but this is Boeing, after all, so regulators cannot afford to take any chances. It is reassuring that America’s National Transportation Safety Board sprung into action; so too that Alaska Airlines was quick to ground its entire fleet of 737 Max 9 jets for immediate inspection.
Nevertheless, it will be of huge concern that Friday’s accident involved a model from the 737 Max series, an airliner that surely has the most troubling track record of any modern jetliner currently criss-crossing the skies. Boeing’s best-selling design has been beset by multiple deadly crashes and numerous other serious flaws.
There are more than 200 of the Max 9 alone in service around the world, and it can be found among the fleets of many major airlines, according to aviation analytics company Cirium. United Airlines has 79 Max 9s in service, while Alaska Airlines has 65 and plans for another 15 of the aircraft.
The weekend’s events are a public relations catastrophe for Alaska, coming just a week after the release of an effusive press release in which the airline pledged its commitment to the Boeing line-up and enthused about the “terrific results” it had experienced with the 737-9 in “guest satisfaction”, among other things.
It is an account that is surely at odds with those that had to huddle together for warmth on the weekend’s doomed flight from Portland, Oregon – particularly the passenger who arrived topless after his shirt was sucked out of the side of the plane where the door once was.
United and Alaska account for roughly two thirds of the 737-9’s in existence. Panama’s Copa Airlines, Aeromexico, Iceland Air, FlyDubai, and Kazakhstan’s Scat Airlines also operate the jet.
[ad_2]
Source link
Only one thing is stopping Boeing from being permanently grounded
[ad_1]
Early indications are that it was an isolated incident – but this is Boeing, after all, so regulators cannot afford to take any chances. It is reassuring that America’s National Transportation Safety Board sprung into action; so too that Alaska Airlines was quick to ground its entire fleet of 737 Max 9 jets for immediate inspection.
Nevertheless, it will be of huge concern that Friday’s accident involved a model from the 737 Max series, an airliner that surely has the most troubling track record of any modern jetliner currently criss-crossing the skies. Boeing’s best-selling design has been beset by multiple deadly crashes and numerous other serious flaws.
There are more than 200 of the Max 9 alone in service around the world, and it can be found among the fleets of many major airlines, according to aviation analytics company Cirium. United Airlines has 79 Max 9s in service, while Alaska Airlines has 65 and plans for another 15 of the aircraft.
The weekend’s events are a public relations catastrophe for Alaska, coming just a week after the release of an effusive press release in which the airline pledged its commitment to the Boeing line-up and enthused about the “terrific results” it had experienced with the 737-9 in “guest satisfaction”, among other things.
It is an account that is surely at odds with those that had to huddle together for warmth on the weekend’s doomed flight from Portland, Oregon – particularly the passenger who arrived topless after his shirt was sucked out of the side of the plane where the door once was.
United and Alaska account for roughly two thirds of the 737-9’s in existence. Panama’s Copa Airlines, Aeromexico, Iceland Air, FlyDubai, and Kazakhstan’s Scat Airlines also operate the jet.
[ad_2]
Source link