Southwest Takes 128 Jets Out of Service After Missed Inspections - Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Southwest Airlines Co., the world’s biggest operator of Boeing Co. 737 jets, is taking almost a fifth of its fleet out of service for inspections after alerting U.S. regulators that it missed checks on the planes’ rudders.

The carrier took out 128 single-aisle 737-700s and notified the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration about the lapses on Tuesday afternoon, according to an e-mailed statement from the agency.

“The airline voluntarily removed these aircraft from service while the FAA works with Boeing and Southwest to evaluate a proposal that would allow the airline to continue flying the planes until the inspections are completed over the next few days,” the FAA said.

The missed inspections involved standby hydraulic systems, which serve as the final backup to two primary levels of equipment, and the lowest of three intervals for the checks, the airline said. After notifying the FAA, Southwest developed a plan to complete the overdue checks.

“We are working to resolve this matter swiftly,” Brandy King, a Southwest spokeswoman, said in an e-mailed statement.

Southwest canceled 90 flights across its network Tuesday because of the missed inspections, King said. She didn’t know how many flights might be affected Wednesday.

Boeing’s twin-engine 737 is the world’s most widely flown jetliner, a workhorse model on short-haul flights like those flown by Southwest. Dallas-based Southwest is the world’s biggest discount carrier and had 665 planes in its all-737 fleet at the end of 2014, according to a corporate fact sheet.

Mass inspections and groundings, whether voluntary or required, aren’t unknown in the airline industry, and have caught Southwest before.

In 2009, Southwest inspected all 181 of one model of 737 for metal weakness after a hole about a foot wide opened in a plane’s fuselage, forcing an emergency landing. No flaws were found, Southwest said at the time.

A year earlier, the FAA told American Airlines to park its Boeing MD-80s because of what the agency said were maintenance failures that led to chafed wires, misrouted wiring bundles and missing clamps. That incident forced American to cancel 3,300 flights -- and came as the FAA faced criticism over its failure to oversee maintenance at Southwest.

Southwest was ordered to pay a record $10.2 million fine after flying 46 jets on almost 60,000 flights in 2006 and 2007 without full inspections for possible fuselage cracks.

In 2013, the FAA told U.S. carriers to park their Boeing 787 Dreamliners after batteries on two of the composite-plastic jets melted down. While United Airlines was the only U.S. operator at the time, the government’s move triggered a global stand-down as other air-safety authorities followed, and the planes were out of service for three months.

The Wall Street Journal reported Southwest’s missed inspections earlier Tuesday.

To contact the reporter on this story: Edward Dufner in Dallas at edufner@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anand Krishnamoorthy at anandk@bloomberg.net Michael S. Arnold

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