A “whistling sound” was heard on a previous flight of the Boeing 737 Max 9 whose door plug blew out during an Alaska Airlines flight last month, an attorney representing passengers in a lawsuit said in new court documents. Mark Lindquist is representing 22 passengers of Alaska Airlines flight 1282, which made a harrowing emergency landing in Portland last month after a door plug blew out of the Boeing fuselage just minutes after takeoff. The plane landed safely and there were no serious injuries among the 171 passengers and six crew members. Lindquist filed a lawsuit against Boeing and Alaska Airlines on behalf of four passengers in Washington state's King County Superior Court last month, accusing the companies of negligence. On Wednesday, he filed an amended complaint that adds 18 additional passenger plaintiffs and includes the new allegations concerning the previous flight. According to the complaint, passengers on the earlier flight heard the sound "coming from the vicinity of the door plug.” They brought it to the attention of flight attendants, who then “reportedly informed” a pilot, according to the complaint. After the pilot checked cockpit instruments and found readings to be normal, no further action was taken, the complaint says. Lindquist said he became aware of the new claims after “a couple” of people contacted his law firm. He did not specify who they were and declined to confirm whether they were passengers or crew members on the previous flight. He said he did not speak with them directly, but learned of their “whistling sound” allegations through his legal team. He also declined to specify when the previous flight occurred. When reached by the AP, Boeing declined to comment and Alaska Airlines said it does not comment on pending litigation.<br/>
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The panel that blew off a Boeing jet during an Alaska Airlines flight last month showed signs that it had moved on flights prior to the accident, a US senator briefed on the investigation said Thursday. Senator Maria Cantwell, the Democrat who heads the Commerce Committee, said National Transportation Safety Board investigators found marks on the panel indicating it had shifted prior to breaking loose on a Jan. 5 flight over Portland. Cantwell, who is from Washington where the Max 9 jet was built, was briefed by NTSB earlier this week. Her comments shed new light on the dramatic accident, which has become the biggest crisis for Boeing since its entire fleet of Max jets was grounded globally in 2019 following two deadly crashes. The NTSB said Tuesday in a preliminary report that the panel, known as a door plug, appears to have left the Boeing factory without four bolts designed to hold it in place. Cantwell said the evidence raises questions about whether Alaska Air’s maintenance staff might have detected the missing bolts sooner. “What happened when people are inspecting the planes?,” Cantwell told reporters. “How come that wasn’t detected in the process?” NTSB spokesman Eric Weiss declined to comment on Cantwell’s remarks, saying only that it would be part of the probe. In the days after the accident, the NTSB said the Alaska jet had experienced repeated issues with its pressurization system but there were no indications they were related.<br/>
The Sri Lankan government has extended the prequalification deadline to buy a majority stake in SriLankan Airlines (UL, Colombo International) until March 5, 2024. It is the third extension, with the application originally due in early December 2023. Consequently, the government has adjusted other target dates in the sale timeline. No reason was provided for the new deferral in the January 30 bid bulletin update released by the Ministry of Finance. Under the amended timeline, the selection of prequalified bidders and opening of the data room will now occur in mid-March, with the issuance of the RFP and draft definitive agreements slated to happen at the end of the same month. One-on-one meetings with bidders and site visits will now take place across April. Final submissions and the selection of the successful bidder remain scheduled to happen in May. The issuance of a letter of intent, cabinet approval, and a signing of agreements will follow that in June. The Sri Lankan government is selling stakes in several state-owned enterprises in an attempt to clean up the national balance sheet and shift the operations of what are mainly commercial entities to the private sector. The government owns 99.52% of SriLankan Airlines but intends to sell a majority stake to a strategic investor. Last year, spruiking the divesture, the government said the state-owned carrier offered "a great opportunity for profitable growth in the hands of the right investor building a major hub in the Indian Ocean."<br/>
Qantas has again denied accusations of price gouging following the release of a report by former ACCC chairman Allan Fels. The report, commissioned by the ACTU, stated bluntly that “the duopoly in the aviation sector in Australia is dominated by Qantas and there is price gouging by Qantas”, and called for “unnecessary restrictions on competition” in domestic and international aviation to be removed. “Qantas fare increases over the three months to December 2022 were large enough to produce a sizable increase in the ‘holiday travel and accommodation’ contribution to inflation, possibly up to 25% of the increase that quarter as it appeared in the ABS CPI measure,” Fels wrote. “A quarter of the inflation that month was mainly due to Qantas aggressively raising airfares, although Virgin may have also contributed.” In a statement responding to the report, the Flying Kangaroo said that both it and Jetstar “appreciate the importance of affordable air travel”, and pointed to BITRE data showing a decline in average airfares from their peak in December 2022. “The temporary spike in fares post-COVID reflected reductions in capacity to improve operational resilience following the challenging restart of the industry once borders opened,” said Qantas. “These reductions coincided with a period of high demand and the imbalance pushed up fares across all airlines. At the same time, fuel prices increased by more than 60%, driving fares higher again. “Sale fares are frequently available, with Qantas offering an average of 17 network-wide sales per year and Jetstar offering 10m fares for less than $100 last year.”<br/>