The airline United Airlines has announced that it plans to use the Boeing 28-Max-2024 aircraft in commercial flight service again from Sunday, January 737, 9. All FAA orders were complied with and improvements were made.

Earlier this month, during the climb of a Boeing 737-Max-9 operated by Alaska Airlines, a blade that covered an unneeded emergency exit came off. The FAA reacted immediately and imposed a temporary flight ban on all aircraft of this type. Some inspections and work must be carried out before the affected aircraft are allowed to fly commercially again.

Both Alaska Airlines and United Airlines have found numerous defects. These are, for example, loose screws and loose bolts. The FAA has mandated that this be addressed. United Airlines announced that it has met all requirements and has now received approval from the US Civil Aviation Authority to put the Boeing 737-Max-9 aircraft back in the air.

The list of defects found is quite extensive, so the FAA is taking a closer look at Boeing's production processes, particularly in the area of ​​quality assurance. A planned expansion of the monthly production rate was temporarily prohibited by the authorities. According to the Civil Aviation Authority, Boeing must demonstrate that significant quality control improvements have been implemented.

For the operators of the affected Boeing 737-Max-9, the inspections are quite tedious because they are time-consuming. There is also a loss of earnings because there is less capacity available. This cannot always be compensated for by rebooking your own flights, those of other airlines or by renting ACMI aircraft. Alaska Airlines and United Airlines alone have had to cancel numerous connections without replacement since the “emergency exit incident”. In any case, safety is paramount, especially since many passengers in the USA have concerns about this type of machine.

For United Airlines, Toby Enqvist, Chief Operations Officer, stated: “Our entire Tech Ops team has come together to make this happen and has been there from day one, and they have even more to do in the days ahead. Please join me in thanking them for all they are doing to safely return the MAX-9 to service.”