The fallout from a mid-flight panel blowout on a Boeing Co.-made 737 Max aircraft final month has reached Canada, as WestJet confronts indefinite delays on dozens of plane deliveries.
The Calgary-based provider purchased 42 Boeing 737 Max 10 jetliners in 2022, with choices for 22 extra — on high of practically two dozen earlier Max orders nonetheless within the pipeline.
The multibillion-dollar offers have been slated to bolster WestJet’s fleet by a minimum of 65 planes — 50 of them Max 10s — by 2029 in a transfer the airline referred to as a “game-changer” that would scale back gasoline prices and “underpin” its development.
However, the Max 10 has but to obtain last certification, and after the panel incident, regulators mentioned they might halt any manufacturing enlargement at Boeing till a full investigation was full — a course of that might take over a yr.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration briefly grounded the 737 Max 9 and launched a probe after a panel often known as a door plug tore away from the fuselage of an Alaska Airlines aircraft at 16,000 toes on Jan. 5, leaving a refrigerator-sized gap within the cabin wall and prompting an emergency touchdown.
WestJet says it continues to work carefully with Boeing on supply timelines and believes the expansion plan for its fleet has some flexibility.
Source: calgary.citynews.ca