ANCHORAGE – Alaska Airlines has begun preliminary inspections on some of its Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft over the weekend, the company said on Jan 13, adding that up to 20 planes could undergo checks.

The carrier also said it would initiate and enhance its own layers of quality control to the production of the airplane and has initiated a review of Boeing’s production quality and control systems, including the plane maker’s production vendor oversight.

The moves follow a dramatic incident on Jan 5, when Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 from Portland made an emergency landing after a panel known as a “door plug” blew out mid-flight. There were no fatalities or serious injuries.

The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has launched a safety probe into the incident, the first major in-flight safety issue on a Boeing plane since fatal 2018 and 2019 737 Max crashes that led to a lengthy grounding of the aircraft.

Alaska Airlines said that it engaged in a candid conversation with Boeing’s chief executive and leadership team earlier in the week to discuss their quality improvement plans to ensure the delivery of aircraft of the highest quality to Alaska.

The airline said that the FAA will require more data from Boeing before it approves the airliner manufacturer’s proposed inspections and the maintenance instructions used to conduct the final inspections to safely return the 737 Max 9 to service.

Alaska Airlines, which operates 65 737 Max 9 planes, said it was cancelling around 110 to 150 flights a day till Jan 16 after grounding the jets.

The FAA on Jan 12 extended the grounding of Boeing 737 Max 9 airplanes indefinitely for new safety checks and announced it will tighten oversight of Boeing itself.

Under more stringent supervision, the regulator will audit the Boeing 737 Max 9 production line and suppliers and consider having an independent entity take over from Boeing certain aspects of certifying the safety of new aircraft that the FAA previously assigned to the plane maker. REUTERS