The US transportation secretary announced on Wednesday afternoon that no grounded Boeing 737 Max 9 would return to service “until it is safe”, after Alaska Airlines announced the cancellation of all flights on its 737 Max 9 planes at the direction of the Federal Aviation Administration.
Pete Buttigieg said he was “not putting a timeline” on when the FAA will allow the planes to resume flights.
Every plane that the US aircraft manufacturer delivers “needs to be 100% safe”, Buttigieg added.
He said he has spoken to the head of Boeing and told him the company needs to do everything it can to establish 100% confidence in its planes.
The Boeing CEO, Dave Calhoun, on Tuesday acknowledged “our mistake”, after a cabin panel of a 737 Max 9 jet blew off during an Alaska Airlines flight last week.
Earlier on Wednesday, Alaska Airlines calculated that its latest cancellations will equate to about 110-150 flights each day.
News of the mass flight cancellations came after a video widely circulated online showed a hole in Alaska Airlines flight 1282 where a door panel had dramatically detached and fell off mid-flight between Portland, Oregon, and Ontario, California. The plane was a 737 Max 9.
An Alaska Airlines flight was forced to return to Portland International Airport after a section of the fuselage suddenly blew out of the plane Friday evening with a big boom and a rush of air through a gaping hole.https://t.co/GxzCvAsNqD pic.twitter.com/WgAYEXqXTA
— The Oregonian (@Oregonian) January 6, 2024
Alaska Airlines said all flights on 737 Max 9 aircraft are cancelled as investigations are conducted by the plane model’s manufacturer, Boeing; the FAA; and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
As seen in the video, the incident earlier this month was chaotic, terrifying passengers on board. One teenager said his shirt was ripped off his body when the door plug blew off. Oxygen masks descended from the plane’s ceiling and a sharp breeze was felt throughout.
Passengers who spoke with CBS described the sound of the door plug flying off as a “really loud boom”.
Miraculously, the seat next to the plane’s gaping hole was empty, and everyone on board was safe after the flight was redirected back to Portland International Airport.
“This was a harrowing flight for our guests and crew, and we’re grateful that all individuals have been medically cleared,” Alaska Airlines said in an 8 January press release.
In an updated statement shared on 10 January, the airline company apologized to customers for the disruptions: “We regret the significant disruption that has been caused for our guests by cancellations due to these aircraft being out of service. However, the safety of our employees and guests is our highest priority and we will only return these aircraft to service when all findings have been fully resolved and meet all FAA and Alaska’s stringent standards.”
On Tuesday, Boeing made its first public statement acknowledging the dangerous incident on the Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 plane.
Boeing’s CEO, Dave Calhoun, apologized for the US plane-maker’s errors and told staff the company would make sure an accident like the panel blowout “can never happen again”.
“We’re going to approach this, number one, acknowledging our mistake,” Calhoun said in a statement. “We’re going to approach it with 100% and complete transparency every step of the way.”
United Airlines, another major airline company that uses Boeing 737 Max 9 planes, has also temporarily grounded these planes, following FAA directives.
Reuters contributed reporting
• This article was amended on 10 January 2024 after an editing error resulted in an incorrect headline. The US transportation secretary said that no grounded Boeing 737 Max 9 would return to service “until it is safe”, but did not ground all Boeing 737 Max 9s as the headline previously indicated.
