Another Alaska Airlines incident

Not to mention that there are more 737's in service than any other jet by a long way. While the A320/321 may catch up, right now 737's outnumber them almost 2:1.

 

Uh, oh. Boeing has another whistleblower. This one claims that the 777 and 787 aircraft are flawed. Boeing took shortcuts with the planes' manufacture that is expected to shorten their life expectancies and increase the risk of catastrophic failure. The company allegedly retaliated against the whistleblower. The man witnessed factory workers jumping up and down on various parts of the plane to get holes to align for bolting. He also noticed pressure on engineers to green-light work that they had not inspected.

A whistleblower claims that Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner is flawed. The FAA is investigating | CNN Business

 

More airline news: Southwest is stopping service to four airports, limiting hiring, and asking employees to take time off without pay. They have had some delays receiving planes they ordered from some company called Boeing. Southwest expects to lose 2,000 jobs through attrition by the end of the year. American Airlines also posted a loss for the first quarter. Supposedly, demand for air travel is still strong, but higher labor costs are a problem.

Southwest will limit hiring and drop 4 airports after loss. American Airlines posts 1Q loss as well

 

Some airline safety news: United has apparently been skipping pre-flight safety checks on Boeing 777 aircraft. How many flights? More than 100,000. United claims that the airplane does the checks itself, but the FAA claims that pilots are supposed to follow up with their own checks.

United Airlines Allegedly Skipped Pre-Flight Fire System Checks on More Than 100,000 Flights

 

No biggie; it’s not like wing-to-body bonding is critical or anything.