Southwest Airlines said on Tuesday that it had completed inspections of its older Boeing 737s and had found small cracks in a total of five passenger planes.
The airline conducted the inspections after a hole tore open the roof of one of its 737s on Friday on flight from Phoenix to Sacramento, forcing the airplane to make an emergency landing at a military base.
Friday‘s incident has prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to say that it would issue a directive requiring all airlines to inspect some older-model Boeing 737s for cracks in the skin that can be caused by pressurization and depressurization of the cabin over thousands of takeoffs and landings. Boeing, the manufacturer, said it was also recommending that airlines inspect the areas where the skin covers joints on the older 737 models.
Southwest canceled about 670 flights over the weekend and on Monday while it inspected nearly 80 aircraft. On Tuesday, a Southwest spokeswoman, Whitney Eichinger, said the airline had resumed full scheduling of its 3,400 daily flights, despite the absence of the five planes taken out of service.
“We are waiting for further instructions from Boeing on how to complete the repairs,” Ms. Eichinger said.
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