Boeing expects no ‘meaningful delays’ in aircraft deliveries to India due to 737 MAX 9 problems

While Hulst does not expect delivery delays in the long term, he did underscore that Boeing is not willing to compromise on quality to stick to the committed delivery schedule, adding that the plane maker has added another layer of quality checks in its aircraft manufacturing procedures. On being asked about the nature of conversations Boeing has been having with existing and potential customers over concerns around the MAX family of aircraft, Hulst said that Boeing’s relationship with its customers has lasted generations and it is talking to all customers to address any issue.

Earlier this month, an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 plane operating the flight 1282 between Portland and Ontario (in California) made an emergency landing soon after take-off after a mid-air plug door blowout that led to a section of the fuselage breaking away, causing decompression in the cabin and leaving a door-sized hole in plane’s fuselage at an altitude of around 16,000 feet.

Following the incident, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded all MAX 9 aircraft in the US, and announced a “rigorous inspection and maintenance” as a necessary step before deciding on the return of the planes to service. “The safety of the flying public, not speed, will determine the timeline for returning these aircraft to service,” the FAA said in a statement on Wednesday. In view of the incident, a number of carriers with MAX 9 planes in other countries also grounded the aircraft.

Although India does not have any MAX 9 jets in service, safety regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) mandated a one-time inspection of emergency exits on all their MAX 8 aircraft. The regulator later said that the checks were done satisfactorily with no adverse findings. Air India Express, Akasa Air, and SpiceJet have MAX 8 aircraft in its fleet.

The 737 MAX family of aircraft has had a rather turbulent past, and the latest Alaska Airlines incident has just added to Boeing’s woes. Launched with much fanfare by Boeing a few years ago, the 737 MAX family of aircraft suffered a major blow when two aircraft crashed within a period of six months between October 2018 and March 2019, leading to its grounding by regulators all over the world.

After months of investigations, rectifications, and testing, the FAA cleared the 737 MAX in November 2020, followed by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency giving its nod in January 2021. The DGCA waited for much longer, allowing the 737 MAX to take to the skies only in August 2021, making India one of the last major aviation markets to allow the aircraft to operate.

Over the next couple of years, even as 737 MAX aircraft started winning the trust of airlines and aviation regulators globally, the aircraft’s production was hit time and again due to problems with quality and specifications of certain parts from suppliers.

The latest Alaska Airlines incident comes just a few days after Boeing asked 737 MAX operators to carry out inspections after a loose bolt was found in the rudder control system in of one of its planes.