Headed to Knoxville's airport? What to know about Boeing 737 plane groundings
The latest chapter in the saga of the Boeing 737 Max planes, prompted by a door that blew off an Alaska Airlines plane mid-flight on Jan. 5 and led to grounding of the 737 Max 9, will not affect passengers flying into or out of McGhee Tyson Airport.
Knoxville's airport does not service any Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft, though it might be getting them in the future through Delta, said the airport's vice president of public relations Becky Huckaby.
The two U.S. airlines that fly 737 Max 9 aircraft, United Airlines and Alaska Airlines, have grounded some of their aircraft for inspections mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration.
United is one of five airlines offering flights at McGhee Tyson. As of the morning of Jan. 8, all United arrivals and departures in Knoxville were on time, according to the airport's website.
The airport had not experienced any cancellations in the last 24 hours, according to FlightAware, which tracks commercial flights.
United led all airlines for cancellations on Monday with 223 flights, or 8% of its scheduled departures, and Alaska cancelled 141 flights, or 20% of its scheduled departures, according to FlightAware. Both airlines said they would work with passengers to find other flight options, though passengers reported long wait times for customer service.
The Alaska Airlines flight made an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon. No passengers or crew were killed, though some sustained minor injuries. The FAA inspections will take between four and eight hours to complete and affect about 171 planes worldwide.
Even though flights out of Knoxville are not directly affected, travelers should check to see if their flights to final destinations are impacted, Huckaby said.
"People connect into larger cities, and that might impact their flight," Huckaby told Knox News. "Their destination might not be a point-to-point from here, so it doesn't mean that they won't be impacted. But as a result of the fleet that's at McGhee Tyson, we do not have Max 9s."
Flight information can be found on an airline's mobile app or website, on a ticket or on sites like FlightAware.
The Max aircraft is Boeing's most popular, though it has been plagued with safety issues. Two crashes, one in Indonesia in 2018 and one in Ethiopia in 2019, killed 346 passengers and crew and led to a worldwide grounding of Max aircraft that lasted for two years and cost Boeing billions.
The company's share prices fell 8.6% on Jan. 8, totaling about $13 billion in market value. The share price of Spirit AeroSystems, which manufactured and installed the fuselage component that failed, fell 13.8%, furthering its troubled partnership with Boeing.
Daniel Dassow is a growth and development reporter focused on technology and energy. Phone 423-637-0878. Email daniel.dassow@knoxnews.com.
Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: McGhee Tyson Airport does not fly grounded Boeing 737 Max 9 airplanes
