KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airlines Bhd and Batik Air Malaysia Sdn Bhd, both operators of Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplanes, have confirmed that there are no untoward findings found during recent inspection.
The airlines confirmed this to Business Times when queried following Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia's (CAAM) instruction to Malaysian-based carriers to conduct a one-time inspection on their B737 MAX aircraft for potential loose or missing fastener on the rudder control system.
Malaysia Airlines' parent Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG) said no findings were identified on two of its MAX 8 aircraft after thorough assessments made.
"Malaysia Airlines confirms it has finalised inspection of the two Boeing 737-8 aircraft in its fleet following the directive by CAAM and advisory issued by Boeing.
"The airline wishes to confirm that after conducting thorough assessments on both aircraft, no findings were identified, thereby affirming its compliance with the directive," MAG told Business Times.
Batik Air Malaysia chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Chandran Rama Muthy said the airline had checked 13 out of 16 of its MAX 8 fleet and no findings were found during inspection.
"The rudder actuator inspection as per Boeing's requirement is being done for all 16 of our MAX 8 aircraft and 13 have been completed. No findings to date. The remaining three aircraft is targeted to be completed before Jan 10 subject to weather conditions," he said.
Boeing has come under scrutiny again following Alaska Airlines' emergency landing when a cabin panel blew out of its brand new B737 MAX 9 aircraft shortly after take-off last week.
A few days after the incident, the US Federal Aviation Administration had ordered some 171 MAX 9 airplanes operated by US airlines or in US territory to be temporarily grounded for inspection.
Two American-based carriers, Alaska Airlines and United Airlines have currently stopped flying their MAX 9 airplanes.
Recently, the two airlines said in statements that they have found loose parts on multiple of their MAX 9 aircraft.
Other airlines that have decided to temporary halt the operations of their MAX 9s include Turkish Airlines, Lion Air, Aeromexico and Copa Airlines.
To date, no Malaysian-based airlines are operating the MAX 9.
Boeing president and CEO Dave Calhoun had acknowledged that a "mistake" had been made and said in the company's townhall meeting that the Alaska Airlines' incident involving a cabin panel blowout could never happen again.
"We're going to approach this, number one, acknowledging our mistake. We're going to approach it with 100 per cent and complete transparency every step of the way," he told Boeing's staff while adding that the company will ensure that every next airplane that moves into the sky is safe.
The temporary halt of the MAX 9 aircraft come five years after the global grounding of the MAX 8 following two fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia in 2018 and 2019.