Southwest Starts Accident Probe -- Update

By Doug Cameron

Southwest Airlines Co. said it is accelerating inspections of some engines following a fatal failure on a flight between New York and Dallas.

The airline said it is examining fan blades on CFM56 engines of the type that broke apart on a Boeing Co. 737-700 on Tuesday, forcing an emergency landing and causing the first fatality in an accident on a U.S. airline since 2009.

Southwest Chief Executive Gary Kelly earlier expressed condolences on behalf of the airline to the family of the deceased passenger. He told reporters he had reached out to the family, but hadn't yet been able to make contact.

Mr. Kelly said Southwest is still in the early stages of gathering information, and is cooperating with regulators and the makers of the engine and the plane. He said the aircraft was last inspected on April 15, but didn't provide details on the maintenance work conducted.

"I'm not aware of any issues with the aircraft or any issues with the engine involved," he said. The engine had 40,000 cycles and had its last major overhaul 10,000 cycles ago. A cycle is a takeoff and landing.

U.S. investigators said they have begun investigating the accident, which broke a passenger window on the aircraft after it left New York LaGuardia Airport for Dallas and forced the jet to land in Philadelphia.

"To my knowledge it is the first time we have lost a window," said Mr. Kelly.

Southwest's fleet is entirely made up of Boeing 737s--more than 700 in all. The airline carried almost 158 million passengers last year on domestic flights and a small but fast-growing international network to Mexico and the Caribbean.

The pioneer of the low-cost airline model that has transformed the global industry continues to deviate from rivals by, for example, not charging for checked luggage. It reports quarterly earnings on April 26.

The airline said it expects minimal disruption to operations from the engine inspections.

Write to Doug Cameron at doug.cameron@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 18, 2018 01:24 ET (05:24 GMT)

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