Southwest Cancels 300 Flights as Boeing 737 Inspections Continue

Southwest Cancels 300 Flights as Boeing 737 Inspections Continue

Southwest Airlines canceled 300 flights on Sunday while it continue to inspect a subset of its Southwest 737-300s after a hole ripped open in one in midflight on Friday. As of Sunday afternoon, 19 planes had undergone inspections with no findings, and those planes have been returned to service. In two other airplanes, the testing did detect small, subsurface cracks.

Southwest said further evaluation and potential repairs will be necessary before those planes are returned to service. Inspections of the remaining aircraft in the sub-fleet (a total of 79 aircraft) will continue for the next few days. As inspections are completed with no findings, those planes will continue to be put back into service today and Monday. The airline anticipates completing the inspections by late Tuesday. The 79 aircraft designated for the additional inspections were designed differently in the manufacturing process.

Southwest said it is continuing to cooperate with the ongoing investigation being led by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) into the cause of the hole in the airplane which was diverted to Yuma, Ariz.