Southwest says Boeing did not disclose that it had deactivated a safety feature on its 737 Max jets until after one of the airliners crashed last year. At issue is an alert that tells pilots if a sensor — called an "angle of attack" (AOA) indicator — is transmitting bad data about the pitch of a plane's nose. The sensor's alerts had been operational in previous versions of the 737 but were switched off in the 737 Max. The news first appeared Sunday in The Wall Street Journal. The Journal also reported that FAA safety inspectors and supervisors did not know about the change either. The FAA declined to comment. In a statement Sunday, Southwest said that the safety feature was "depicted to us by Boeing as operable on all Max aircraft." Only after a Lion Air 737 Max crashed in Indonesia last Oct. 29 did Boeing say the feature wasn't turned on, Southwest said. The Max was grounded after a second crash, involving an Ethiopian Airlines jet, on March 10. In response to the Journal story, Boeing said that as the Max planes return to service "all customers will have the AOA disagree alert as standard."<br/>
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United Arab Emirates airline flydubai’s financial outlook for the current year remains unchanged, despite the grounding of its Boeing 737 MAX, a spokeswoman said on Sunday. “We haven’t changed our earlier outlook statement. This of course will also depend on the timelines,” she said. Flydubai operates a fleet of 737 aircraft including 13 MAX jets that have been grounded. The MAX is currently banned from flying in most countries after a total of 346 died in the Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air crashes. Flydubai has previously said it was cautious after posting a full year loss in 2018 but that it expected to return to profitability this year.<br/>
Saudi Arabian budget airline Flyadeal's decision on whether it goes ahead with an order for 30 Boeing 737 MAX jets is "imminent", its CE said Sunday. The airline is reconsidering the order after two MAX jets fatally crashed in Ethiopia in March and in Indonesia in October. "We've kept an open position in terms of which way we will go on fleet given the situation with the MAX," Con Korfiatis said. "At the moment we still don't have a decision but it is imminent." Flyadeal has ordered 30 Boeing 737 MAX 8s with purchasing options for 20 more in a deal Boeing said was worth $5.9b at list prices. The airline, owned by the government of Saudi Arabia through state carrier Saudia, has not finalised contractual terms and would be able to cancel the order if it wants to do so.<br/>
A North Carolina woman says she was taken off an airplane and handcuffed after complaining about vomit on a seat. Rosetta Swinney tells WTVD she was boarding to return from Nevada last weekend when her 14-year-old daughter got someone's vomit on her shirt and hands. The Durham resident said she was taken to jail after verbal exchanges with a flight attendant who said it wasn't her job to clean up. Frontier Airlines says it offered to have a crew clean the vomit, but Swinney became disruptive. An airline statement says police were called after Swinney refused to deplane and take a different flight.<br/>