US investigators recall 737 MAX jet panel, Boeing shares sink pre-market
U.S. officials recovered a panel that blew off an Alaska Airlines plane, partially grounding Boeing's 737 MAX 9 and sending shares in the plane maker tumbling Monday.
On Friday, a door plug tore loose after takeoff from Portland, Oregon, en route to Ontario, California, depressurizing the plane and forcing the pilots to turn back.
The plane, with 171 passengers and six crew members on board, landed safely.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Saturday ordered the temporary grounding of 171 Boeing MAX 9 jets installed with the same panel, which weighs about 27 kg and covers an optional exit door.
It was recovered Sunday by a Portland school teacher identified as “Bob” in the Cedar Hills neighborhood who found it in his backyard, said Jennifer Homendy, chair of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
She said she was “very relieved” to have called it an “important missing piece” in determining why the accident occurred.
“Our construction team will want to look at everything on the door – all the components on the door to see, to look, to witness any marks, to look for any paint transfer, what shape the door was in when it was found. That can be done they reveal a lot about what happened,” she said.
The force of the panel's loss was strong enough to blow open the cockpit door during the flight, Homendy said, adding that it must have been a “terrifying event” to witness.
“They heard a bang,” Homendy said of the pilots, who were interviewed by investigators.
Homendy said the cockpit voice recorder did not record any data because it was overwritten. She again called on regulators to equip existing aircraft with recorders that can capture 25 hours of data, up from the two hours currently required in the US.
ZINC SHARES
Shares of Boeing fell as much as 8% in pre-market trading in the US on Monday as investors digested the latest setback for the plane maker.
If the losses hold, the company would lose more than $12.5 billion in value, almost the cost of developing a new aircraft.
The accident comes as Boeing and supplier Spirit AeroSystems, who were on the panel, grapple with ongoing production setbacks that have hampered recovery from an earlier lengthy 737 MAX safety layoff and broader disruption from the pandemic.
Since the 737 MAX was grounded in March 2019, Boeing shares have fallen more than 40%, while Airbus shares have risen 25%.
Spirit Aero shares fell 15.9% in US pre-market trading on Monday. Shares of Alaska Airlines fell 5%, while shares in United Airlines, the only other U.S. airline that operates aircraft, fell 2.8%.
AIRCRAFT ON THE GROUND
The FAA said Sunday that the affected fleet of Boeing MAX 9 planes, including those of other airlines such as United, would remain grounded until the regulator was satisfied they were safe.
Of the 171 aircraft affected by the order, 144 fly in the United States, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium. Turkish Airlines, Panama's Copa Airlines and Aeromexico said they were grounding the affected planes.
On Monday, Indonesia's transport ministry said it had temporarily grounded three Lion Air 737 MAX 9 planes, even though they had different configurations than the Alaska Airlines plane.
The FAA initially said Saturday that the required inspections would take four to eight hours, leading many in the industry to assume the planes could return to service very soon.
But the criteria for the checks have yet to be agreed between the FAA and Boeing, meaning airlines have not yet received detailed instructions, people familiar with the matter said.
The FAA must approve Boeing's inspection criteria before checks can be completed and aircraft operations can resume.
Alaska Airlines said late on Sunday that it had still not received instructions from Boeing.
The airline canceled 170 flights on Sunday and another 60 on Monday. Travel disruptions were expected to continue at least through mid-week. United, which has grounded its 79 MAX 9s, canceled 230 flights on Sunday, or 8% of scheduled departures.
First print: January 9, 2024 | 12:28 pm IST