Alaska Airlines expects to start flying Boeing 737 Max 9 planes today

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Alaska Airlines plans to return its Boeing 737 Max 9 plane to service as early as today (26 January).

In a press release launched on 25 January, the airline mentioned that it’s now performing detailed inspections of its planes, and that it expects “to bring our first few planes back into scheduled commercial service on Friday, 26 January”.

The information follows an announcement from the FAA that the planes can be allowed to fly once more after passing a brand new inspection course of. Boeing 737 Max 9s had been grounded since 6 January, after the door plug blew out on an Alaska Airlines aircraft mid-flight on 5 January.

The Alaska Airlines assertion mentioned: “Each of our aircraft will only return to service once the rigorous inspections are completed and each aircraft is deemed airworthy according to the FAA requirements.

“We have 65 737-9 MAX in our fleet. The inspections are expected to take up to 12 hours for each plane.

“With the first of our 737-9 MAX set to resume flying on Friday, we’ll add more planes back into service every day as inspections are completed and each aircraft is deemed airworthy. We expect inspections on all our 737-9 MAX to be completed over the next week.”

The assertion then goes on to summarise the inspection course of, together with confirming that mid-cabin door plugs are “properly installed”, inspecting for “any damages or abnormalities to the door and seal components” and re-securing every door plug.

The announcement got here on the identical day that United Airlines, one other main operator of 737 Max 9 planes, mentioned that it will return the plane to service on 28 January.