EU and Turkish aviation authorities block 737 MAX 9s
Shortly after the US Federal Aviation Administration issued an emergency order to ground 171 Boeing 737-9 (MAX) aircraft used by major airlines due to an accident in which an emergency door came loose from an Alaska Airlines Max jet over Portland on Friday evening , European aviation authorities adopted the FAA directive.
EASA wrote in a statement that “a specific configuration” of 737-9 MAX aircraft will be grounded for immediate inspection following “an event that occurred on an Alaska Airlines flight, in which an exit panel became detached from the aircraft during flight, leading to rapid cabin decompression.”
“EASA has made the decision to adopt the FAA's Emergency Airworthiness Directive (EAD) despite the fact that, to the Agency's knowledge and also based on statements from the FAA and Boeing,” the regulator said.
However, the EU regulator noted that “no airline in an EASA Member State currently operates an aircraft in the configuration in question”, so this is, for now, a purely theoretical measure.
Safety precautions in the EU for the troubled 737 MAX come as the FAA grounded 171 737-9 Max jets on Saturday after a mid-cabin exit door on an Alaska Airlines flight separated from the plane mid-flight over Portland.
Here's a list of the latest actions taken by airlines in the U.S. and around the world that operate these troubled jets (list courtesy of Bloomberg):
Alaska Air Group Inc, the airline at the center of the unrest, initially grounded all of its 65 737-9 Max jets hours after the crash. It later allowed 18 of the planes to fly again after receiving detailed maintenance inspections before the event. However, it subsequently withdrew all jets from service.
United Airlines Holding Inc, the largest operator of the Max type involved, said all 79 of its jets were temporarily grounded. The airline's next step will be to establish with the FAA the inspection process and requirements for returning the planes to service. It had previously said that 33 of the jets had passed necessary inspections before grounding all the planes.
Panama's Copa Airlines SA said it had grounded 21 of its affected jets. The carrier has a total of 29 in its fleet, but uses them in two different configurations. – Aeromexico followed United and Alaska Air in withdrawing all 19 of its 737-9 Max jets from service for inspections.
Icelandair said its small fleet of 737-9 Max aircraft is not affected by the FAA inspections. The carrier is in contact with Boeing and the FAA.
Turkish Airlines said its country's civil aviation authority has asked it to review its small fleet of five 737-9 Max planes. Pending completion of the technical review, the carrier has withdrawn the jets from service.
FlyDubai said its three 737-9 Max aircraft are not affected by the FAA directive.
Why this fear? Because the rupture is particularly serious, it puts at risk of an explosive depression and therefore the integrity of the aircraft in flight. Furthermore, decompression can cause dangerous secondary damage, such as, for example, to the aircraft's hydraulic systems.
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The article EU and Turkish airline authorities block 737 MAX 9s comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/le-autorita-aeree-della-uee-della-turchia-bloccano-i-737-max-9/ on Sun, 07 Jan 2024 20:49:35 +0000.