The American airline Alaska Airlines on Friday returned to service one of its Boeing 737 MAX 9s, suspended from flight by the American regulator after an incident on one of its planes on January 5.
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The plane from Seattle to San Diego took off about an hour late.
The company announced online in the morning that its flight 1146 would launch the gradual return to service of its fleet of 65 737 MAX 9 planes.
It was due to leave at 2:40 p.m. local time from Seattle to land in San Diego (California) at 5:05 p.m., thus traveling the west coast of the United States from north to south.
According to the Seattle airport and Flightradar24 websites, the plane finally took off at 3:51 p.m. local time and was scheduled to land at 6:03 p.m.
Ben Minicucci, boss of Alaska Airlines, clarified Thursday, during an audio conference with analysts devoted to 2023 results, that he anticipated a resumption of these flights from Friday.
The return to operation of the fleet should last until the beginning of February.
Back to normal
On January 5, a cap holder in the cabin of one of its Boeing 737 MAX 9s connecting Portland (Oregon) to Ontario (California) came loose in flight.
Airlines have the possibility of blocking a door when the number of existing emergency exits is sufficient in relation to the number of seats on the aircraft. This modification has been made on 171 of the 218 Boeing 737 MAX 9s delivered to date.
Following the incident, the American Aviation Regulatory Agency (FAA) suspended the aircraft configured in this way until further notice.
The regulator announced Wednesday evening that it had established a “vast” maintenance and inspection program to allow these planes to return to the air.
It is only once the established plan is completed “that the aircraft will be able to return to service,” said the FAA, without giving a date.
Alaska Airlines said Friday morning that the inspection of its fleet – up to a dozen hours per aircraft – should be completed “by the end of next week.”
“This will allow us to operate our flight program in full,” noted the company, which estimates that 3,000 flights will have been canceled in January due to the suspension, for financial consequences estimated at $150 million.
The American company United Airlines, which has the largest fleet of these reconfigured models (79), indicated Thursday that the first flight of one of its aircraft was scheduled for Sunday, while not ruling out a return to service later. early.
The American Transportation Safety Agency (NTSB), responsible for determining the circumstances of the January 5 incident, told AFP on Friday that one of its investigators was to return that same day to the Boeing factory in Renton, Washington.
The team of investigators will “establish a timeline from the first stages of production of the cap holder to the in-flight accident,” the agency said, adding that they will also review the documentation linked to the aircraft (production and maintenance).
She is expected to report on her investigation next week.
