The extended grounding of some Boeing 737 Max jetliners is adding to pressure on Boeing and the subcontractor that made the fuselage and installed a panel that blew out leaving a gaping hole in an Alaska Airlines plane last week. Investigators know the sequence of events that led to the blowout Friday night, but they don’t know the cause. A key question is whether bolts used to help secure the panel, called a door plug, were installed. A National Transportation Safety Board investigator says the bolts have not been recovered and the agency won’t know if they were even in place until the door plug is examined in a laboratory. Adding to Boeing’s problems, Alaska Airlines and United Airlines — the two US carriers that fly the Max 9 — reported finding loose bolts and other hardware in other panels, suggesting quality issues with the door plugs are not limited to one plane. The plugs are installed in Max 9 fuselages by subcontractor Spirit AeroSystems, which was spun off by Boeing in 2005. Spirit has a history of manufacturing problems, many uncovered in a US House probe of two fatal crashes involving Boeing 737 Max 8 planes. “The focus needs to turn to Spirit,” said former congressman Peter DeFazio, who chaired the investigating committee. “Boeing has been happy with the crappy stuff from Spirit because it’s cheap.” Spirit declined Tuesday to comment on the lawsuit. The company said in a statement Monday that “quality and product integrity” are a priority. “Spirit is a committed partner with Boeing on the 737 program, and we continue to work together with them on this matter,” it said. The process of inspecting Max 9s and returning them to service has been slower than Alaska and United had hoped. The Federal Aviation Administration grounded all Max 9s in the United States on Saturday until they could be inspected, but Boeing didn’t provide inspection instructions until Monday. On Tuesday, the FAA said those instructions were being revised “because of feedback,” and it extended the grounding of the planes.<br/>
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Boeing executives told staff on Tuesday that findings of loose bolts in airplanes were being treated as a "quality control issue" and checks are under way at Boeing and supplier Spirit Aerosystems, sources familiar with the matter said. They also told staff in a series of meetings following the Alaska Airlines blowout that Boeing had told its own plants and those of its suppliers to ensure that any such problems are addressed and then check wider systems and processes, the sources said.<br/>
The Hong Kong government has raised concern over Cathay Pacific’s spate of flight cancellations over the year-end period, urging the airline to address the issue “as quickly as possible”. Hong Kong CE John Lee says his government is “of course…very concerned” by the cancellations, which Cathay has blamed on pilot shortages amid a spike in “seasonal illnesses”. Cathay cancelled 28 flights on New Year’s Day, on top of at least 40 other flights across the Christmas holidays. It will also cut 12 flights a day until the end of February, in a pre-emptive bid to avoid further cancellations during the Lunar New Year period in mid-February. Lee stresses the importance of the city’s “whole aviation capacity”, and says the city’s transport and logistics bureau will get in touch with Cathay’s management “to ensure that the capacity is rebuilt as quickly as possible”. “I also understand that this capacity constraint exists in many cities similar to Hong Kong…but in this competitive world…I want our aviation industry to rebuild its capacity fast and completely, so that we will be competitive as a whole,” Lee adds. The spate of flight cancellations has put a dent on Cathay’s recovery momentum – the airline is targeting to fully recover operating capacity by this year. It has also prompted the airline’s pilot union to call for a government-led inquiry into the operational snags. In a statement dated 9 January, the Hong Kong Aircrew Officers Association laid the blame of the airline’s current woes on job cuts made in 2020, as part of company restructuring efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic. The union charged that Cathay made “deep and permanent” pay cuts, and fired thousands of its pilots and flight attendants, which it said “turned out to be disastrous for Hong Kong’s aviation skills base”. <br/>