Ryanair: Airline to 'increase' engineers working with Boeing to check new planes after Alaska Airlines blowout

Ryanair has unveiled it will “increase” the number of its engineers working with Boeing to “improve quality control” after the Alaska Airlines blowout incident. The incident which occurred on January 5 saw the plug covering an unused exit door blow off a Boeing 737 Max 9 plane shortly after take off over Oregon. 

Passengers had to cling on and it reportedly caused a T-shirt to tear off from a child’s back. The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) subsequently ordered the grounding of the affected fleet of Boeing Max 9 planes, including those operated by other carriers. It said the fleet would remain grounded until the regulator was satisfied they were safe.

Ryanair currently operates Boeing’s 737 MAX 8 aircraft and in May last year it announced it had ordered 300 new Boeing 737-MAX-10 aircraft for delivery between 2027 to 2033. In December it announced it had to cut its winter flight schedule due to delays in the delivery of new Boeing 737 planes. The delays were attributed to production delays combined with Boeing hold-ups in repairs and deliveries in Seattle, Washington.

Now Ryanair has issued an updated statement on its use of Boeing aircraft after it has been announced that Alaska Airlines and United Airlines will see their Boeing 737 Max 9 planes back to service in the coming days. The airline said: “Ryanair welcomes the decision of the FAA to allow the Boeing MAX 9 aircraft to go back into service over the coming days. The airline emphasised that there are no Boeing MAX 9 aircraft in Europe and Ryanair does not operate this aircraft type. Ryanair also welcomes the FAA’s decision to postpone Boeing’s proposed monthly production rate increase which will allow Boeing the time and space to improve quality control of the aircraft it currently manufactures.”

The airline welcomes the decision despite ongoing problems with Boeing planes. Regulators grounded Boeing's bestselling Max 8 aircraft between 2019 and 2020 after two separate crashes killed 346 people. Those incidents were later connected to an automated control system, known as MCAS, which Boeing then updated.

On Saturday (January 20), a nose wheel fell off a Boeing 757 plane as it was preparing to take off on the runway at Atlanta's international airport. According to the air traffic control audio included in the FAA report, reported by ABC news, a controller is heard alerting the pilot, saying: “One of your nose tires just came off. It just rolled off the runway behind you.”

When asked about the safety of Boeing aircraft, Ryanair told NationalWorld it is “increasing the numbers of its engineers in Seattle and Wichita working with Boeing to improve quality control”. The airline added: “Boeing have assured Ryanair that the grounding of the MAX 9s and maintaining rather than increasing current monthly production will not further delay Ryanair deliveries for S24 or S25.”