Boeing is letting airlines into its factories as preliminary inspections begin on the 737 Max 9

By Pete Muntean and Ross Levitt, CNN

(CNN) — Boeing says it will give airlines more oversight of its facilities following the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 incident in which a part of the plane fell off mid-flight.

The plane maker said Monday that in addition to extra quality control inspections on the 737 production line, it will allow airlines into Boeing factories and those of contractor Spirit AeroSystems, which builds Max 9 fuselage.

The January 5th blowout of the door plug on Alaska 1282 — which caused the Federal Aviation Administration to ground Max 9 planes — “make clear that we are not where we need to be,” Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stan Deal said in a companywide memo shared with CNN.

“These checks will provide one more layer of scrutiny on top of the thousands of inspections performed today,” said Deal in the memo. “Our team is also taking a hard look at our quality practices in our factories and across our production system.”

Over the weekend, Alaska Airlines announced it has begun preliminary inspections of 20 of its Max 9s and it will “enhance our own quality oversight of Alaska aircraft on the Boeing production line” by sending more workers to validate the work and its quality.

Alaska Airlines said it is in the middle a “thorough review of Boeing’s production quality and control systems.” The airline has 65 Boeing 737 Max 9s with another 25 on order, according to fleet data from airlines analytics firm Cirium.

In a new statement, Alaska Airlines says it has had “a candid conversation” with Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun and other executives “to discuss their quality improvement plans to ensure the delivery of the highest quality aircraft off the production line for Alaska.”

Boeing 737 Max 9s remain grounded in the United States as airlines Alaska and United await emergency inspection guidance from the Federal Aviation Administration. On Friday, the FAA announced it will audit Boeing’s production practices as it considers mandating an independent third-party oversee Boeing quality.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the blowout incident. It says the door plug has arrived at its Washington, DC, headquarters for examination.

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