Sriwijaya Air (SJ, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta) and Garuda Indonesia (GA, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta) have grounded two and one B737-800 respectively after inspections revealed structural cracks in the area joining the wing and the fuselage known as the "pickle fork".
The Indonesian civil aviation authority (Direktorat Jenderal Perhubungan Udara DJPU) said in a press release that inspections were conducted after the FAA issued an airworthiness directive mandating such checks. It added that out of 213 B737NGs operated in Indonesia, eight have already exceeded the 30,000 flight cycle threshold which resulted in immediate checks. The other aircraft can be checked within the next 1,000 flight cycles.
Out of the eight aircraft subject to immediate checks, five are operated by Sriwijaya Air and three by Garuda Indonesia, with two and one, respectively, subsequently grounded "awaiting further recommendations from Boeing".
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, Sriwijaya Air currently operates twenty-two B737-800s, of which ten are currently grounded. None of them was grounded after the DGCA issued its directive on October 10. For its part, Garuda Indonesia operates seventy-three B737-800s. Flightradar24 ADS-B data indicates that the grounded unit is PK-GEP (msn 29931), which accumulated 36,893 through July 31, 2019, and has been grounded at Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta since October 5, 2019.
Following the initial FAA airworthiness directive, Southwest Airlines (WN, Dallas Love Field) said it grounded two B737NG aircraft and GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes (G3, São Paulo Congonhas) eleven units.
