Southwest will hasten jet inspections after FAA concerns

Southwest Airlines said it would speed up inspections on 38 airplanes it bought from foreign air carriers after regulators threatened to ground the jets because they might not meet federal aviation safety requirements. The inspections will be completed by Jan 31, 5 months sooner than planned, according to documents released Monday by the Senate Commerce Committee. The planes are among 88 used Boeing 737 aircraft that Southwest bought from 2013 to 2017 from 16 foreign carriers. The speedier checks come after inspections of some of the used planes turned up previously undisclosed repairs and incorrectly completed fixes. Southwest used multiple contractors to conduct reviews of the planes’ maintenance records when it bought the planes. <br/>