CHICAGO, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said Monday that it will investigate Boeing after two of its airplanes collided at O'Hare International Airport.
According to local media reports, there were no injuries, and the cause of the incident on Sunday evening remains unexplained. The two colliding aircraft were a Boeing 777 from All Nippon Airways, a Japanese airline, and a Boeing 717 from Delta Air Lines.
SURGING TROUBLES
The incident coincided with a winter storm that disrupted flights in Chicago during the weekend. Arriving flights at O'Hare experienced an average delay of two hours due to heavy snow and blizzard conditions affecting the Midwest and Great Lakes.
Sunday's collision is the most recent in a sequence of airplane incidents currently under investigation. The FAA stated it is committed to continuing an in-depth investigation into the incident.
The U.S. aviation giant is under growing scrutiny following a series of mechanical failures. On Jan. 6, the FAA ordered a temporary grounding of some Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft operated by U.S. airlines or in U.S. territory.
The order was issued following a serious mid-air incident on Friday, Jan. 5, when a part of a Boeing 737 MAX 9 fuselage blew out on an Alaska Airlines flight out of Portland, U.S. state of Oregon. The plane had been in service for just eight weeks.
According to reports, a piece of the fuselage blew out on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9, leaving a large hole and decompressing the passenger cabin.
Several days later, the Chicago-based United Airlines (UA) found loose door plug bolts on at least five Boeing 737 Max 9 planes after inspecting planes following the FAA's temporary grounding order.
It appears to be a manufacturing quality issue instead of a design issue. "The issue could be an assembly error by Boeing, an install error by supplier Spirit AeroSystems, or an issue further down the supply chain," local media quoted Bank of America analyst Ronald Epstein as saying on Monday.
QUALITY CONTROL DOUBTS
Successive problems with Boeing airplanes have raised doubts about quality control among the public.
The FAA, Boeing's primary regulator, also faces criticism for giving aircraft makers too much freedom to regulate themselves during the certification process, says local media.
Boeing has encountered many quality and safety concerns for years with its aircraft, resulting in an extended grounding of certain planes and delivery suspensions.
In Oct. 2018, a new Boeing aircraft with 189 passengers took off from Jakarta, Indonesia, and only twelve minutes following takeoff, the Lion Air-operated plane crashed into Jakarta Bay at an almost vertical angle, with no survivors.
Five months later, a Boeing 737 Max 8 departed from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, identical to the one involved in the Lion Air tragedy. Just six minutes into the flight, it plummeted to the ground, claiming the lives of all 157 passengers.
The 737 MAX was thus grounded in 2019 following the two accidents.
As one of the two primary global aviation companies, Boeing is likely to avoid shutting down, regardless of the magnitude of its errors. Yet the growing doubts regarding the company's quality control problems could damage its reputation.
FALLING SHARES
On Tuesday, Boeing witnessed a 4.1 percent decline in its shares, prolonging losses from the previous week, as the U.S. grounding of certain 737 MAX 9 jets reached its 11th day. The company's commitment to additional quality checks raised concerns about expenses.
Boeing experienced a decline to its lowest point in two months after the FAA's investigation. Wells Fargo, a U.S. multinational financial services company, altered its rating on Boeing's stock, shifting it from "overweight" to "equal weight."
Boeing, one of the leading global players in the aviation industry, has also seen its financial losses pile up after several incidents. Its share price has plunged roughly 40 percent since February 2020.
U.S. stocks lost on Tuesday as higher Treasury bond yields, mixed bank earnings and woes with Boeing dampened sentiment. Enditem.
