Alaska Airlines incident: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), to ensure the safety of air travellers, undertook inspections of Boeing B737-8 Max aircraft deployed by Air India Express, SpiceJet and Akasa Air. This inspection came after the Alaska Airlines incident on January 5th, where the door plug tore off the left side of the jet after its takeoff from Oregon to California.
“Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft was involved in an incident on 5th January 2024 of an in-flight departure of a mid-cabin door plug which resulted in rapid decompression of the airplane. As a precautionary measure, DGCA on 6.1.2024 directed all Indian operators with Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft to check the operation and proper closing of all over wing emergency exits by 7.1.2024. These checks have been satisfactorily performed on the fleet of operational fleet of Boeing B737-8 Max aircraft by Air India Express (4), Spicejet (8) and Akasa (20). Akasa Air fleet includes one B737-8200 aircraft which has a mid-cabin door on which the operational check has also been completed satisfactorily,” the DGCA said in a statement.
A SpiceJet spokesperson further added, "We have conducted a comprehensive examination of our Boeing 737 MAX fleet, as per the directives of the DGCA. No adverse findings were identified during this inspection. Our flight operations remained unaffected and continued to operate as usual. It is important to note that SpiceJet does not operate the B737-9 variant of the MAX."
Meanwhile, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered Alaska Airlines to ground 171 Boeing 737 Max 9 airplanes to run inspections. On Sunday, the airline had cancelled 170 flights, and a further 60 were to be cancelled on Monday.
“The 737-9 MAX grounding has significantly impacted our operation. We have cancelled 170 Sunday flights and 60 cancellations for Monday, with more expected,” it said.
The airline said it would cancel flights through the first half of the week. The Sunday cancellations had affected nearly 25,000 travellers. Some of the passengers sustained injuries as well and required medical attention, said the airline.
The eight-week-old Alaska Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing with 171 passengers on board, along with six crew members, after the door plug tore off the left side of the jet leaving it with a gap in the fuselage.
“We are identifying necessary cancellations for tomorrow and expect the disruption to last through at least mid-week. A flexible travel policy is in place for guests to change or cancel their flights,” said the airline.
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