Southwest Airlines Faces a Crunch After Engine Glitch
Why the Cancelations? The Engine Ticker
Southwest pulled about 40 flights out of the sky on Sunday—a mere 1% of scheduled flights—while they’re giving the engines a hard look. The company announced on Tuesday that, over the next month, they’ll be inspecting a new swarm of CFM56‑7B engines, the very type that caused the fatal blow‑out just last week in Pennsylvania.
Inspections: A Surprise Party for the Engines
At the time, Southwest warned that the check-up spree would touch operations, but they never said exactly how many engines they’d pull apart. Meanwhile, regulators across the pond are in a hurry.
- FAA & European authorities demanded emergency inspections on roughly 700 engines—the same family involved in the deadly Southwest incident–within 20 days.
- The fatal blow‑out on Flight 1380 was traced to a fan blade that snapped off, shattering a window and claiming a passenger’s life. It was the first U.S. airline passenger fatality since 2009.
- Southwest has kept quiet on its inspection program: no numbers, no clarity on which engines were checked pre‑accident or whether the doomed engine had been inspected.
- An earlier 2016 incident saw a CFM56‑7B fan blade detach, leaving a hole above the left wing. That event spurred European regulators to give airlines nine months to conduct engine checks—U.S. regulators were still mulling their next move.
The Bottom Line: A Rough Patch, But a Quick Fix
Southwest is working overtime to keep passengers safe and get the engines back on track. While the exact details of their inspection runs remain hush‑hush, the airline is busy broaching it—one engine at a time.
