Qantas (QF, Sydney Kingsford Smith) has joined the ranks of airlines grounding B737-800s after cracks were discovered in the area connecting the wing and the fuselage, the so-called "pickle fork".
The airline said in a press release that it inspected thirty-three of its seventy-five B737-800s and found hairline cracks in three of them. They were immediately grounded, Qantas underlined. According to ch-aviation analysis of Flightradar24 ADS-B data, VH-VXC (msn 30897) has been grounded at Brisbane International since October 15, VH-VXM (msn 33483) - since October 18, and VH-VXU (msn 33761) - since October 29. In addition, VH-VXA (msn 29551) has been grounded at Melbourne Tullamarine since October 30.
Qantas stressed that it undertook inspections earlier than prescribed by the regulators. None of the airline's B737-800 reached the threshold of 30,000 flight cycles, which would require immediate inspections. Units with over 22,600 accumulated flight cycles should be inspected within seven months.
"The [inspected] aircraft had all completed around 27,000 cycles. Any aircraft with more than 22,600 cycles was inspected, in line with advice from regulators," Qantas said.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, the thirty-three B737-800s inspected by Qantas had accumulated between 27,624 and 22,352 flight cycles as of August 31, 2019. The remaining units had 18,490 flight cycles or less as of the end of August.
In response, the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA) trade union called on Qantas to ground the entire subfleet of B737-800s pending inspections of all units.
Chief Executive of Qantas Domestic Andrew David called the comments of ALAEA "irresponsible" while "completely misrepresenting the facts".
Meanwhile, Boeing said that over 1,000 aircraft have been inspected so far with cracks discovered in just 50. Airlines which have grounded select B737-800s include Southwest Airlines, GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes, Sriwijaya Air, and Korean Air.
Separately, Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce told AirlineRatings.com that the airline was planning to launch discussions regarding narrowbody fleet renewal in 2020, after it makes decisions regarding the Project Sunrise ultra-long-haul fleet. Qantas has yet to decide whether it will pursue a single aircraft family to replace both the Fokker 100s and B717-200s operated by regional carriers under the Qantaslink brand and the B737-800s, or will have two separate discussions.
