WRAPUP 3-Boeing, regulators give go-ahead for jet inspections as shares sink

The FAA said planes would remain grounded "until operators complete enhanced inspections which include both left and right cabin door exit plugs, door components, and fasteners." It did not comment on Alaska's assertion that the air carrier needed an additional approval to carry out the inspections. Boeing shares dropped more than 7% on Monday, while its supplier Spirit AeroSystems shares were down 6.5%, though shares pared losses after Boeing confirmed an earlier Reuters report that the instructions were issued.

Boeing and U.S. regulators gave the go-ahead on Monday for airlines to inspect jets that were grounded after a panel blew off an Alaska Airlines-operated 737 MAX 9 in mid-flight that forced a dramatic landing of the airliner over the weekend.

The inspections of 171 MAX planes mostly operated by U.S. carriers Alaska and United Airlines may take several days, forcing the cancellation of numerous flights. Boeing shares sank

on Monday as the company reckons with the aftermath of the surprising panel emergency. It was the latest setback for Boeing

following a series of production delays that have hampered its recovery from a lengthy 737 MAX safety grounding in 2019. Boeing issued the detailed instructions to air carriers on Monday, which were approved by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.

However, Alaska Airlines said Monday that it also needs U.S. regulators to "approve operators' inspection processes to ensure compliance," and the airline itself also needs to develop "detailed inspection instructions" for its technicians to follow. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration ordered the temporary grounding for checks of 171 MAX 9 jets installed with the 60-pound (27 kg) panel that detached from a full Alaska Airlines Flight on Friday and crashed into a Portland suburb without harm.

The FAA confirmed that it had approved Boeing's inspection criteria, but it did not say how long it would take to inspect the planes. The regulator had previously said the inspections would take about four to eight hours per plane. The FAA said planes would remain grounded "until operators complete enhanced inspections which include both left and right cabin door exit plugs, door components, and fasteners." It did not comment on Alaska's assertion that the air carrier needed an additional approval to carry out the inspections.

Boeing shares dropped more than 7% on Monday, while its supplier Spirit AeroSystems shares were down 6.5%, though shares pared losses after Boeing confirmed an earlier Reuters report that the instructions were issued. PANEL FOUND IN BACKYARD

The Alaska Airlines pilots turned the plane around following depressurization after the so-called door plug tore off, and returned to Portland with 171 passengers and 6 crew on board. There were no major injuries reported, even as oxygen masks deployed and personal items were sucked out of the rectangular opening where the panel had been. The panel was recovered on Sunday by a Portland school teacher identified only as "Bob" in the Cedar Hills neighborhood who found it in his backyard, U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Jennifer Homendy said.

She said she was "very relieved" it had been found, having called it a "key missing component" to determine why the accident occurred. "Our structures team will want to look at everything on the door - all of the components on the door to see, to look at, witness marks, to look at any paint transfer, what shape the door was in when found," she said.

The force from the loss of the panel was strong enough to blow open the cockpit door during flight, said Homendy. "They heard a bang," Homendy said of the pilots, who were interviewed by investigators. Homendy said the cockpit voice recorder did not capture any data because it had been overwritten. She again called on regulators to mandate retrofitting existing planes with recorders that capture 25 hours of data, up from the two hours required in the U.S. at present.

Boeing and Spirit, which made the panel, have been grappling with ongoing production setbacks over several years. Since the 737 MAX was grounded in March 2019, Boeing shares have fallen by more than 40% while Airbus shares are up 25%. Alaska Airlines cancelled 141 flights, or 20% of its scheduled departures, on Monday. The carrier had earlier said travel disruptions were expected to last through at least mid-week. United, which has grounded its 79 MAX 9s, cancelled 226 flights on Monday, or 8% of its scheduled departures.

Of the 171 planes covered by the order, 144 are operating in the United States, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium. Turkish Airlines, Panama's Copa Airlines and Aeromexico said they were grounding affected jets. (Additional reporting by Joanna Plucinska in London, Lisa Barrington in Seoul, Tim Hepher in Paris, Rajesh Kumar Singh in Chicago and Stanley Widianto in Jakarta; writing by Josephine Mason, Tim Hepher, and Rajesh Kumar Singh; editing by David Gaffen, Jason Neely, Barbara Lewis and Nick Zieminski)

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)