The Federal Aviation Administration has confirmed it will issue an emergency directive requiring operators of specific early Boeing 737 models to conduct initial and repetitive electromagnetic inspections for fatigue damage.

The decision follows a mid-air rupture of the fuselage skin on Southwest Airlines flight 812 on Friday.

“Safety is our number one priority,” said transportation secretary Ray LaHood.

“Last Friday’s incident was very serious and could result in additional action depending on the outcome of the investigation.”

The FAA action will initially apply to a total of approximately 175 aircraft worldwide, 80 of which are US-registered aircraft.

Most of the aircraft in the US are operated by Southwest Airlines.

“The FAA has comprehensive programs in place to protect commercial aircraft from structural damage as they age,” said FAA administrator Randy Babbitt.

“This action is designed to detect cracking in a specific part of the aircraft that cannot be spotted with visual inspection.”

The FAA airworthiness directive will require initial inspections using electromagnetic, or eddy-current, technology in specific areas of the aircraft fuselage on certain Boeing 737 aircraft in the -300, -400 and -500 series that have accumulated more than 30,000 flight cycles.

It will then require repetitive inspections at regular intervals.

Last November, the FAA published a rule designed specifically to address widespread fatigue damage in aging aircraft.

The rule requires aircraft manufacturers to establish a number of flight cycles or hours a plane can operate and be free from fatigue damage.

The rule requires aircraft manufacturers to incorporate the limits into their maintenance programs.

Source: BTN

Southwest Airlines cancelled 70 flights on Monday as it continued to inspect Boeing 737 planes following the emergency landing on Friday of a jet with a hole in its fuselage.

A Southwest spokeswoman said 70 flights systemwide were cancelled for Monday out of about 3,400 daily flights. Of 79 older Boeing 737-300s that were designated for additional inspections after the April 1 incident, 33 had been returned to service, she said.

The discount airline cancelled 600 flights over the weekend as it checked 737-300s for fuselage cracks and fatigue after one of its planes made an emergency landing in Arizona. Flight 812 was heading from Phoenix to Sacramento when a 5-foot tear opened in the fuselage 20 minutes after takeoff.

So far, inspections have found cracks in two other planes, Southwest said.

Boeing was expected to issue a service bulletin to operators of 737-300s worldwide on inspection procedures for the subset of planes affected, especially those with particularly heavy use, aviation officials said. Boeing did not have an immediate comment on Monday.

The narrow body 737 is Boeing's best selling model. There are about 280 737-300s currently in the US airline fleet, and 900 globally.

James Higgins, an analyst with Soleil Securities, said the flight cancellations will cause some revenue loss for Southwest but he doesn't expect lasting fallout from this incident.

"I don't think there is anything systematic or persistent here," Higgins said. "This is more noteworthy for its headline generation than for its likely damage to the company."

Source: Reuters

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ABOUT SOUTHWEST AIRLINES

In its 40th year of service, Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV)continues to differentiate itself from other low fare carriers--offering a reliable product with exemplary Customer Service. Southwest Airlines is the nation's largest carrier in terms of originating domestic passengers boarded, now serving 69 cities in 35 states. Beginning March 13, 2011, Southwest will initiate service to Charleston and Greenville/Spartanburg, South Carolina, and on March 27, 2011, service will begin to Newark Liberty International Airport. Southwest also is one of the most honored airlines in the world known for its commitment to the triple bottom line of Performance, People, and Planet. To read more about how Southwest is doing its part to be a good citizen, visit southwest.com/cares to read the Southwest Airlines One Report(TM). Based in Dallas, Southwest currently operates more than 3,200 flights a day and has nearly 35,000 Employees systemwide.

Source: Southwest Airlines

Does booking a hotel cause more hassle than it should? Southwest Airlines has introduced new updates and features on theHotel booking page of southwest.com to enhance and simplify the hotel booking experience for Customers. New features allow Customers to make informed decisions and find the perfect hotel fit. From TripAdvisor traveler ratings and reviews, to multi-room booking capability and neighborhood searches, the Hotel page provides everything Customers need to find the perfect hotel!

Now, directly on southwest.com/hotels, Customers will see the TripAdvisor traveler rating in the most recent traveler reviews for each hotel, allowing customers to make more informed decisions based on fellow travelers' feedback. Research shows that hotel reviews are used by 77 percent of travelers when making a hotel booking decision(1). The addition of TripAdvisor reviews will allow Customers to easily compare and contrast hotels to make the right selection for travel. TripAdvisor hotel ratings and reviews will be available on nearly all of the hotel properties that are available to book on southwest.com.

The updated Hotel page will also allow multi-room booking-- a Customer may book two rooms at one time. This is a feature that is ideal for families who need an additional room. Southwest Airlines wants to provide an amazing Hotel page to make booking rooms an easy process online.

Customers using the Hotel page also will be able to narrow down hotel searches to specific neighborhoods. The search tool provides users preference of neighborhoods rather than large city searches. With all of these new tools, Southwest Customers have everything they need right at their fingertips to book hotel rooms.

From distinguishing Rapid Rewards frequent flyer program partners, to adding map functionality and hotel reviews, Southwest would like to ensure that Customers are not only getting great deals when booking hotels on southwest.com, but also have all the tools necessary to make the right decision.

ABOUT SOUTHWEST AIRLINES

In its 40th year of service, Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV)continues to differentiate itself from other low fare carriers--offering a reliable product with exemplary Customer Service. Southwest Airlines is the nation's largest carrier in terms of originating domestic passengers boarded, now serving 69 cities in 35 states. Beginning March 13, 2011, Southwest will initiate service toCharleston and Greenville/Spartanburg, South Carolina, and on March 27, 2011, service will begin to Newark Liberty International Airport. Southwest also is one of the most honored airlines in the world known for its commitment to the triple bottom line of Performance, People, and Planet. To read more about how Southwest is doing its part to be a good citizen, visitsouthwest.com/cares to read the Southwest Airlines One Report(TM). Based in Dallas, Southwest currently operates more than 3,200 flights a day and has nearly 35,000 Employees systemwide.

Source: Southwest Airlines