Southwest Grounds Planes - The Dallas-based airlines has resumed the use of about 128 Boeing 737-700 airplanes that were grounded on Tuesday after the company realized that the planes had missed a periodic inspection for the backup hydraulic system of their rudders.
After cancelling nearly 100 flights due to the decision to ground the planes, Southwest revealed that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had approved its proposal to resume flights with the grounded planes provided they undergo the required inspection within 5 days.
A statement from Southwest said that the airlines "discovered an overdue maintenance check required to be performed on the standby hydraulic system, which serves as a back-up to the primary hydraulic systems."
Southwest voluntarily decided to ground the 128 airplanes, which is about a fifth of the company's 665 airplanes fleet. A Southwest spokeswoman Brandy King said the delays resulting from this decision even affected some flights scheduled for Wednesday morning. According to King, Southwest grounded the affected planes and immediately informed the FAA of the overdue inspection. She further revealed that up to 80 of the planes have been inspected overnight and that the rest will be inspected within 5 days.
"The FAA evaluated the risk and agreed that the airline could continue to operate the planes during the short interim," FAA spokeswoman Lynn Lunsford said.
This is not the first time that Southwest is coming into the headlines due to an overdue inspection of planes. In 2009, Southwest paid a fine of $7.5 million to the FAA after the company continued to operate about 46 airplanes without completing mandatory inspections for cracks in the fuselage.
Currently, Southwest in battling in court with the FAA over a $12 million fine after the company was found guilty of failing to follow the administration's regulations while undertaking makeovers on 44 of its jetliners since 2006.
