Boeing Flags Further Faults in 737 Max 9 Planes

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Facts

  • Aviation company Boeing will have to delay delivery of roughly 50 of its newest 737 Max 9 planes after new faults were discovered during assembly by Spirit AeroSystems.1
  • According to a letter from Boeing Commercial Airlines CEO Stan Deal to staff — first acquired by Reuters — the company became aware of the issue last Thursday after Spirit notified it of 'a non-conformance in some 737 fuselages.' Deal thanked a supplier employee who flagged that two holes 'may not have been drilled exactly to our requirements.'2
  • Deal also wrote that the 'potential condition' was not an 'immediate flight safety issue,' confirming that all current 737s could 'continue operating safely.' Rather, Deal noted, that 'rework' was likely on 'about 50 undelivered airplanes.'2
  • Previously, a Boeing 737 in January experienced a blowout of a door plug on an Alaska Airlines flight shortly after takeoff. While no one was seriously injured, the incident led to the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) temporarily grounding all 171 Max 9 planes until further tests and inspections could be completed.3
  • Following this latest news, shares in Boeing dropped 2% in pre-market trading, and even further Monday — a reduction that brought its losses to just under 20% for the year.4

Sources: 1Newsweek, 2Reuters, 3BBC News and 4MarketWatch.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by Boeing. Boeing is in close dialogue with its employees to identify where improvements can be made and is doing all it can to ensure issues such as this never arise again. Although this work will temporarily delay existing orders, Boeing is committed to carrying out this work to ensure the quality, safety, and stability of anything coming out of its factories.
  • Narrative B, as provided by Guardian. It's completely unthinkable that these planes are still able to fly given that fresh issues are still being consistently reported. If you had a car that had a piece fly off while driving, prompting you to take it to a mechanic and the mechanic says, 'Here you go. The car is fixed. We found other problems, but you can still take it out on the road,' you would be scratching your head. This situation is no different.