Boeing Co. took the first step toward returning its grounded 737 Max 9 jetliners to service, issuing guidance to airlines on the inspections required following a mid-air structural failure late last week. The so-called multi-operator message gives detailed instructions on the steps to be taken before lifting a Federal Aviation Administration grounding order imposed in the wake of the Jan. 5 mishap on an Alaska Airlines flight. “Boeing 737-9 aircraft will remain grounded until operators complete enhanced inspections which include both left and right cabin door exit plugs, door components, and fasteners,” the FAA said in a statement. “Operators must also complete corrective action requirements based on findings from the inspections prior to bringing any aircraft back into service.” The go-ahead to inspect the planes marks concrete progress for Boeing after the accident slowed CEO Dave Calhoun’s effort to overcome a series of quality issues on the 737 Max. The FAA had caused some initial confusion over the process for returning the 171 Max 9 jets to service after inspections, JPMorgan analyst Seth Seifman said in a Jan. 7 note to clients. “A key question is how regulators address the incident, and while the FAA’s initial requirement for a 4-8 hour inspection did not seem like a major impediment to a return to service, the path back has become less clear since then,” he wrote. <br/>
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Boeing’s share price fell sharply on Monday, in the first trading session after part of the fuselage of one of its 737 Max 9 jets blew out on an Alaska Airlines flight on Friday night. Boeing’s share prices fell about 8%, and Spirit AeroSystems, which made the door plug that was torn from the plane, saw its stock drop by about 11% by the end of the day on Monday. The Alaska Airlines flight departing from Portland, Ore., lost the mid-cabin door plug midair, exposing passengers to howling winds and forcing an emergency landing. None of the 171 passengers and six crew members aboard were seriously injured. The FAA has ordered US airlines to ground certain Boeing 737 Max 9 planes configured similarly to the one used by Alaska. The NTAB is investigating the incident. United Airlines and Alaska Airlines, the heaviest users of the Max 9, canceled more than 350 flights on Monday, representing 8% of United’s schedule and 20% of Alaska’s, according to FlightAware. Other airlines with Max 9 planes in their fleets are outside the United States, such as Copa Airlines of Panama, Turkish Airlines and Icelandair. Those planes may not be subject to the same regulatory action. The European Union’s aviation safety agency announced on Monday that the Max 9 jets operating in Europe were not grounded because they had a different configuration than the Alaska Airline jet that was forced to make an emergency landing. Boeing said early Monday morning that it had issued instructions for how airlines should conduct inspections of the plane. Spirit AeroSystems said in a statement on Monday that it is “a committed partner with Boeing on the 737 program, and we continue to work together with them on this matter.” While investors were spooked, few analysts expected the financial damage to Boeing and others to persist, based on what they had seen from regulators and the companies after the Alaska Airlines incident.<br/>
A serious mid-air breach has landed planemaker Boeing (BA.N) in the regulatory crosshairs just as it was awaiting approval of new models of its best-selling MAX jet. Investigators are still trying to determine what caused a door plug to fall off from the side of a 737 MAX 9 aircraft operated by Alaska Airlines on Friday, with 171 passengers on board. This is what aerospace analysts are saying about the expected impact of the incident on Boeing: CAI VON RUMOHR, TD COWEN ANALYST: "The check required by the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) is expected to take 4-8 hours, which is far less than was the case with the recent issue with 737 aft pressure bulkhead, which is far more difficult to access. As a result, we think the checks will most likely be completed in several days; and once the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) determines the root cause of the Alaska Air incident, we think a fix should not be complicated and may be as straightforward as requiring more rigorous and extensive inspection of the exit door plugs at Spirit and Boeing. The question then is whether the FAA will require more frequent inspection of MAX 9 exit door plugs and whether it will require more extensive pre-delivery inspection of MAX 9’s at Boeing that would impact the pace of deliveries. Based on the FAA’s response to the 737’s aft pressure bulkhead and vertical stabilizer issue, which could have had equally serious consequences if not addressed, we think this is unlikely." Story cites more analysts.<br/>
The cockpit voice recorder data on the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 jet which lost a panel mid-flight on Friday was overwritten, U.S. authorities said, renewing attention on long-standing safety calls for longer in-flight recordings. NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said on Sunday no data was available on the cockpit voice recorder because it was not retrieved within two hours - when recording restarts, erasing previous data. The U.S. requires cockpit voice recorders to log two hours of data versus 25 hours in Europe for planes made after 2021. The industry has been wrestling with the length of cockpit recordings since the disappearance of a Malaysian jet in 2014. Although the Boeing 777 has never been found, the loss of MH370 sharply increased efforts to monitor the longest possible modern flights and where necessary recap earlier flights. In 2016, members of the United Nations' aviation agency, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), recommended a 25-hour recording on planes manufactured from 2021, in line with the period of time already used for keeping flight data. "There was a lot going on, on the flight deck and on the plane. It's a very chaotic event. The circuit breaker for the CVR (cockpit voice recorder) was not pulled. The maintenance team went out to get it, but it was right at about the two-hour mark," Homendy said. The plane's flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder were sent to NTSB labs on Sunday to be read but no voice data was available, she said.<br/>
Indonesia temporarily grounded three Boeing (BA.N) 737 MAX 9 planes on Jan. 6, operated by Lion Air, despite different configurations from the plane that had to make an emergency landing in the U.S. last week, the transport ministry said on Monday. The US FAA ordered the temporary grounding of 171 Boeing jets installed with the same panel that tore off an eight-week-old Alaska Airlines jet on Friday, forcing an emergency landing with a gap in the fuselage. The door plug blew off the left side of the Alaska Airlines jet following takeoff from Portland, Oregon, en route to Ontario, California, forcing pilots to turn back and land safely with all 171 passengers and six crew on board. Three Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes, the only ones Indonesia had, were grounded starting from January 6 until further notice, said Adita Irawati, a transport ministry spokesperson. The Lion Air planes had a "mid cabin emergency exit door type II" whereas the Alaska Airlines plane had a "mid exit door plug," Adita said. "This means the system in the mid-section of emergency doors were functional and could be used for evacuation," Adita added. The ministry will coordinate with the FAA, Boeing and Lion Air to monitor the situation, adding that "operational safety will be our priority."<br/>
Emirates President Tim Clark, a powerful voice in the aviation community as the biggest buyer of widebody aircraft, said the accident on a Boeing Co. 737 Max aircraft on Jan. 5 marks a setback for the manufacturer just as it seeks to improve operations. “They’ve had quality control problems for a long time now, and this is just another manifestation of that,” Clark said in an exclusive interview at his office in Dubai. “I think they’re getting their act together now, but this doesn’t help.” While Emirates doesn’t fly the the Boeing 737 or the similar Airbus SE A320, Clark is known for holding both manufacturers and engine suppliers accountable for perceived engineering shortfalls. At the same time, he acknowledged that there’s no option for airlines to go elsewhere for the time being, given the civil aviation world is essentially controlled by a duopoly. What Clark called “the wannabes” have got a lot of catching up to do if they want to be on equal footing with the two main players, he said. Clark was speaking days after a Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft operated by Alaska Airlines was forced into an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon, after a large panel broke loose during flight, leaving a gaping hole in the left part of the fuselage at 16,000 feet. The aircraft returned safely and nobody was seriously injured, but regulators have ordered the grounding of the variant to perform inspections. The Emirates president has reserved some of his harshest recent criticism for engine maker Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc, saying it’s produced what he called a “defective” engine for Airbus’s largest aircraft, the A350-1000. By contrast, Emirates gave Boeing a glowing endorsement at the recent Dubai Air Show with a large order for the company’s wide-body aircraft. <br/>
Aviation services provider AAR Corp said on Monday it did not perform any work on or near the mid-cabin exit door plug of the Alaska Air aircraft whose cabin panel ripped off while in mid-air. Investors sold off AAR shares on Monday following an analyst note from Deutsche Bank that noted that the aircraft spent time at an Oklahoma facility operated by AAR. A piece of fuselage tore off the left side of an Alaska Airlines-operated Boeing 737 MAX 9 jet on Friday after taking off from Portland, Oregon, forcing an emergency landing. The panel that tore off is a plug put in place on some MAX 9s instead of an additional emergency exit. However, AAR said it did not perform any work near the mid-cabin panel of the aircraft in question. "AAR was contracted by Alaska Airlines to perform a 2KU Modification (WiFi modification) on the aircraft that was performed from Nov. 27 to Dec. 7, 2023," AAR said. At one point Monday, AAR shares fell as much as 8% in morning trade; they pared losses after the company's statement and were down 2.9%. Deutsche Bank research noted that the aircraft had departed Oklahoma City on Dec. 7, citing flight tracking data, where WiFi installations could have occurred at AAR's facility. Reviewing videos of other WiFi installs, Deutsche Bank said emergency exits had been removed in such cases. "It might be possible that a door plug also might have been removed and then reattached during this process," the report added.<br/>
Venezuela’s government has reacted angrily to an Argentinean judicial decision to order the transfer of an impounded combi Boeing 747-300M to US authorities. The Venezuelan state describes the decision over the aircraft – operated by Empresa de Transporte Aereocargo del Sur, or Emtrasur – as attempted theft, and “clearly servile to imperial interests”. Its ire has been sparked by an Argentinean judge’s apparent decision acceding to a US government request for the aircraft, which was the subject of a District of Columbia court seizure warrant in July 2022. The US government issued a temporary order a month later denying the export privileges of Emtrasur, which it said was a subsidiary of Venezuelan airline Conviasa – a state-owned carrier which had earlier been sanctioned by the US Treasury. This denial was based on evidence that Emtrasur was engaging in conduct prohibited by an order against Iranian carrier Mahan Air after Emtrasur – through Conviasa – obtained the 747-300M. The jet, powered by General Electric CF6 engines, was originally delivered to French operator UTA in 1986 and subsequently operated by Air France before Mahan Air acquired it around 2008. Emtrasur had used the aircraft for services between Venezuela, Iran and Russia, in violation of export restrictions, the US government claimed. Argentinean authorities detained the 747 around 8 June 2022 following a US export enforcement request, and the aircraft has remained there since. The crew of the jet included five Iranian nationals, the US government stated at the time of its August 2022 export denial order, and its captain identified as a former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander. Documentation also detailed the aircraft’s activity after its transfer to Emtrasur. The government adds that its investigations into the aircraft’s circumstances has uncovered evidence that spare parts on the jet bear Mahan Air or Conviasa markings, underlining the breach of restrictions against Mahan Air. While it claims that Venezuelan parties have taken “affirmative actions” to secure the 747’s release from Argentina, the aircraft remains in detention, and the US government issued a final order of forteiture in May last year. Venezuela’s government says agreement to US seizure of the aircraft is “illegal” and that Argentina, as a result, “submits to the powers of US imperialism” and “flagrantly violates” a number of international treaties, including the Chicago Convention.<br/>
Iran hopes technical problems preventing Iranian Muslims from making the Umrah pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia will soon be resolved, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said on Monday. Iran initially announced in December that the first Umrah pilgrims would travel on Dec. 19 following an agreement between Tehran and Riyadh to allow the pilgrimage to take place after a pause of eight years. However, this flight and subsequent ones were cancelled due to Riyadh failing to provide "necessary final permits" for the entry of Iranian planes into Saudi airports, the spokesman of Iran Air Hessam Qorbanali had told state TV. "The relevant authorities have informed that it is just a technical issue and that there is no political dispute as the bilateral agreement regarding Umrah pilgrimage is well-established and Saudi Arabia is committed to it," Kanaani said during a televised press conference on Monday. Saudi Arabia did not comment on the matter. Kanaani added that Iran's head of Haj and Pilgrimage was in Saudi Arabia with a team of experts to resolve the problems.<br/>
NHK has learned that the air traffic control instruction of "number 1" that indicates the order for planes to take off at Japanese airports will not be used for the time being. The move comes after the misinterpretation of the phrase could have led to last week's deadly collision between a Japan Airlines passenger plane and a Japan Coast Guard aircraft on a runway at Tokyo's Haneda Airport. The Coast Guard aircraft is believed to have mistakenly entered the runway after its pilot possibly misinterpreted "number 1" as clearance for takeoff. Traffic controllers and the JAL pilot were reportedly unaware of the aircraft's location. NHK has learned of emergency safety measures compiled by the transport ministry following the accident. The measures include having air traffic controllers give takeoff permission to pilots without telling them their number in the lineup. This will apply to Haneda and other airports nationwide. The numbers representing takeoff order are widely used at airports across Japan. They are used as practical information to facilitate smooth flight operations, rather than instructions by air controllers. Other safety measures will require air carriers to closely monitor the runways from the cockpit during takeoff and landing.<br/>
India's aviation regulator has increased the mandatory weekly rest period for flight crew to 48 hours from the previous 36 hours, the civil aviation ministry said on Monday, as it laid out a host of measures to address complaints of pilot fatigue. The revised regulations come months after the watchdog decided to conduct a review of pilot fatigue data collected during spot checks and surveillance of airlines after an IndiGo (INGL.NS) pilot collapsed and died in August before his flight. The regulator also cut the maximum flight duty period to 10 hours from 13 hours for pilots working nights and limited the number of flight landings to two, from six, during night operations. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation's (DGCA) revised regulations, which considered practices in the United States and the European Union, also amended the definition of night duty to cover the first six hours of the day, from five earlier. "These changes - that are very much in line with international best practices - will ensure India has the necessary arsenal, as it prepares to clinch the largest domestic aviation market title in the future," civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. The DGCA will also mandate all airline operators to submit quarterly fatigue reports and comply with the revised regulations by June 1, 2024.<br/>