oneworld

Alaska Airlines will “initiate and enhance” its own quality control checks on the production of its planes, in addition to Federal Aviation Administration’s review and oversight of the process after an accident on a Boeing 737 Max 9 jet this month. The carrier said it met with Boeing’s CEO and leadership team in recent days to discuss their quality improvement plans, according to a statement Saturday. A fuselage panel blew off a Max 9 operated by Alaska Airlines shortly after takeoff from Portland, Oregon on Jan. 5. Preliminary inspections by Alaska Air and United Airlines Holdings Inc. since the accident have found loose bolts on some of their Max 9 aircraft. The FAA has launched a formal probe of the Boeing’s manufacturing operations and announced steps to toughen oversight of the planemaker. Alaska Air also said its quality and audit team began a thorough review of Boeing’s production quality and control systems, and production vendor oversight. Alaska Air “will partner with our maintenance team on the design of enhanced processes for our own quality control over aircraft at Boeing,” it said. “Starting this week, we will also enhance our own quality oversight of Alaska aircraft on the Boeing production line, expanding our team with additional experienced professionals to validate work and quality on the Boeing 737 production line.”<br/>

Alaska Airlines has begun preliminary inspections on some of its Boeing 737-9 MAX aircrafts this weekend, adding that up to 20 planes could undergo inspection, the company said on Saturday. The carrier also said it would initiate and enhance its own layers of quality control to the production of the airplane and has initiated a review of Boeing’s production quality and control systems, including Boeing’s production vendor oversight. Alaska Airlines said that it engaged in a candid conversation with Boeing’s CEO and leadership team earlier in the week to discuss their quality improvement plans to ensure the delivery of the highest quality aircraft off the production line for Alaska. The airline said that the US FAA will require more data from Boeing before it approves the airline manufacturer's proposed inspections and the maintenance instructions used to conduct the final inspections to safely return the 737-9 MAX to service. The FAA on Friday extended the grounding of Boeing 737 MAX 9 airplanes indefinitely for new safety checks and announced it will tighten oversight of Boeing itself after a cabin panel broke off a new jet in mid-flight. Under more stringent supervision, the regulator will audit the Boeing 737 MAX 9 production line and suppliers and consider having an independent entity take over from Boeing certain aspects of certifying the safety of new aircraft that the FAA previously assigned to the planemaker.<br/>

Alaska Airlines said it will extend its cancellation of Boeing 737 MAX 9 flights through Tuesday, Jan. 16, for planes that have been grounded since last week's mid-air cabin panel blowout. Alaska has been cancelling about 20% of daily flights since Saturday after the grounding of its 65 MAX 9 planes.<br/>

Boeing was sued by passengers on an Alaska Airlines Inc. flight that was forced to make an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon, last week after a mid-air blowout of a so-called door plug on the 737 Max 9 jet. The suit, filed Thursday in Washington state court by seven passengers, seeks class-action status and unspecified damages from Boeing, which manufactured the plane. The 171 passengers and six crew on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 experienced physical injuries and emotional trauma from the accident on Jan. 5, according to the complaint. “The pressure change made ears bleed and combined with low oxygen, loud wind noise and traumatic stress made heads ache severely,” lawyers for the plaintiffs said in the suit. “Passengers were shocked, terrorized and confused, thrust into a waking nightmare, hoping they would live long enough to walk the earth again.” Boeing is facing scrutiny from US regulators, who have opened a formal investigation into the company’s aircraft operations following the incident. CEO Dave Calhoun said “a quality escape” compromised the safety of jet, but the company is still trying to understand exactly what went wrong. Boeing declined to comment on the lawsuit. Alaska Airlines took delivery of the Max 9 jet from Boeing around Nov. 11, according to the complaint. Since the blowout on Flight 1282, inspections found some bolts that secure door plugs on similar Max 9 planes owned by Alaska Airlines and United Airlines were loose. Passengers on Flight 1282 said they experienced a “sudden loud explosive noise” before the left door plug shot off the aircraft. The cabin “suddenly and violently depressurized,” according to the suit. “The force of the depressurization ripped the shirt off a boy, and sucked cell phones, other debris, and much of the oxygen out of the aircraft,” the passengers claim in the lawsuit, adding that some pieces of seats near the opening were “torn off and expelled into the night.”<br/>

Cathay Pacific Airways slashed the number of flying hours needed to become a captain by 25%, people familiar with the matter say, as a pilot shortage contributes to mass flight cancellations and threatens to undermine the airline’s pandemic rebound. Pilots now must have a minimum of 3,000 hours of flying experience and 500 flights to be considered for promotion, according to an operational handbook that was updated on Jan 10. That’s down from 4,000 hours required previously. Candidates still need 1,500 hours on commercial jets, as well as training, and must meet other requirements as well. The move is intended to make the carrier more desirable to pilots and bolster its captain’s ranks, both gutted by Covid-related job losses. Subsequent pay cuts for the remaining pilots accelerated an exodus of cockpit crews. As a result, the airline has 48% fewer captains and first officers than before the pandemic, according to data from Cathay’s pilots union – a shortage that has triggered the current crisis over flight cancellations. The fallout has drawn fire from Hong Kong’s leader John Lee, and put Cathay CEO Ronald Lam under scrutiny for staffing decisions made before and during the pandemic. Cathay said the changes were approved by regulators and came into effect in November. Experience is only one factor, with performance determining who is selected for captain’s training.<br/>