The grounding of the new Boeing 737-9 MAX jetliners continued to reverberate with cancellations and delays at U.S. airports as the week began Monday with a major airline reporting finding loose bolts on the type of panel that failed, but impacts for travelers heading in and out of the Bay Area’s major airports were modest.
The FAA on Saturday grounded all Boeing’s new 737-9 MAX planes in the U.S. after one suffered a fuselage blowout Friday on an Alaska Airlines flight from Portland, Oregon, to Ontario, California. As the aircraft ascended and its cabin pressurized, a “plug” panel that can be converted to an additional emergency exit dislodged. The plane returned safely to Portland but Alaska reported several passengers required medical attention.
United Airlines reported Monday that “since we began preliminary inspections on Saturday, we have found instances that appear to relate to installation issues in the door plug — for example, bolts that needed additional tightening.”
Alaska Airlines and United Airlines were the two domestic carriers most heavily impacted by the grounding. United has 79 of the 737-9 MAX aircraft and Alaska has 65, according to the airlines and global flight tracking service Flightradar24. Nine international carriers also fly the 737-9 MAX, including AeroMexico, which has 19. The FAA says 171 are operating globally, FlightRadar24 said.
United said it canceled 200 737-9 MAX flights Monday and Alaska said it canceled 140 flights Monday booked on that jet model.
Airports reporting the most cancellations of departing and arriving flights Monday were Houston and Seattle-Tacoma, according to FlightAware. San Francisco International had the eighth most cancelled departures, with 27, and the sixth most canceled arrivals at 32, together accounting for about 10% of cancellations nationally, FlightAware said.
SFO spokesman Doug Yakel said Alaska and United expected about 10 to 12 SFO cancellations each on Monday as a result of the 737 groundings.
San Jose International had just five canceled departures and three canceled arrivals, totaling about 3% of the national total, FlightAware said. SJC spokeswoman Ana Maria State said there were “no major impact on SJC’s operations in connection with the grounding of Boeing 737 Max 9.”
Oakland International had just one canceled departure and one canceled arrival, both on Alaska Airlines, said airport spokeswoman Kaley Skantz.
The FAA said Monday that “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. Operators must also complete corrective action requirements based on findings from the inspections prior to bringing any aircraft back into service.”
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating why the door plug dislodged from Alaska Airlines Flight 1282.
Alaska airlines said in a statement Monday that “as we await further information from the FAA and work through these important steps, our technicians have prepared each aircraft to be immediately ready for the required inspection when instructions are finalized.”
The airline added that “as these steps remain pending, we continue to experience disruption to our operation with these aircraft out of service,” and that for Impacted Travelers, a flexible travel policy is in place systemwide allowing passengers to change or cancel flights and providing rebooking information for those whose flights were canceled.
United said that “as of Monday, service on that aircraft remains suspended” and that the loose bolts “will be remedied by our Tech Ops team to safely return the aircraft to service.”
“We expect significant cancellations on Tuesday as well,” United said. “We have been able to operate some planned flights by switching to other aircraft types, avoiding about 30 cancellations each on Monday and Tuesday.”
Boeing’s small twin-jet 737 model, introduced in 1968, has been among the most popular commercial passenger jets with more than 11,600 built. It has been repeatedly updated to improve efficiency and passenger loads.
The 737-9 MAX is nearly 10 feet longer than its predecessor, the 737-8 MAX, and can carry up to 220 passengers, 10 more than the 737-8 MAX.
Aviation expert and former airline pilot Kathleen Bangs said Monday that the fuselage panel incident is troubling for a brand new aircraft. Alaska said it received the plane Oct. 31.
In 1988, an Aloha Airlines flight from Hilo to Honolulu, Hawaii, lost an 18-foot section of its upper fuselage, which killed a flight attendant and forced an emergency landing in Maui. The NTSB concluded that the airline’s maintenance program had failed to notice “significant disbonding and fatigue damage of the fuselage.”
Bangs said that incident involved an older jet with significant wear.
“Every time you pressurize the airplane it expands like a balloon,” Bang said. “It can only take so many cycles. This is very different. It’s not the fuselage itself, it’s the plug. What happened that it ejected out of an essentially new airplane?”