Checks on Boeing 737 Max 9 planes completed satisfactorily: DGCA

The checks conducted on Boeing 737-8 Max planes of Indian carriers after the Alaska Airlines incident have been completed satisfactorily, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said on Monday.

The aviation regulator had on Saturday directed domestic airlines to carry out the inspection of emergency exits of all Boeing 737-8 Max planes in their fleets as an "abundant precautionary measure" in the wake of Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-9 Max's outer section, including a window, falling off mid-air.

A DGCA statement said, "these checks have been satisfactorily performed on the operational fleet of Boeing B737-8 Max aircraft by Air India Express (4), SpiceJet (8) and Akasa (20). Akasa Air fleet includes one B737-8200 aircraft which has a mid-cabin door on which the operational check has also been completed satisfactorily."

Akasa Air said subsequent to the guideline issued by DGCA, it has completed a thorough inspection of its entire fleet of in-service Boeing 737 Max aircraft. "We can confirm that there are no adverse findings. We can also confirm that there was no disruption to our operations during this time," it said in a statement.

A SpiceJet spokesperson said, "We have conducted a comprehensive examination of our Boeing 737 MAX fleet, as per the directives of the DGCA. No adverse findings were identified during this inspection. Our flight operations remained unaffected and continued to operate as usual. It is important to note that SpiceJet does not operate the B737-9 variant of the MAX."

The DGCA had on Saturday asked airlines to mandatorily conduct "one-time emergency exit checks" by noon on January 7.