An American Airlines flight to Spain was forced to make an emergency landing in Boston after a crack was found in the windshield of the 23-year-old Boeing aircraft.
Flight 94, a Boeing 777, took off from New York City’s JFK Airport at 7.28pm, less than around two hours into the journey, an Alert 2 emergency was declared, according to the Massachusetts State Police.
The Federal Aviation Administration says that an Alert 2 indicates that the flight is experiencing ‘major difficulties’ or that a ‘difficult or crash landing may be expected.’
At the time, the plane was 250 miles from the coast of Massachusetts over the Atlantic Ocean.
The AA flight landed at 10:14pm in Logan International Airport without issue and made it to the gate without assistance. In a statement, the airline said that the diversion was down to a ‘maintenance issue.’
The plane was immediately taken by an American Airlines crew who began an inspection. Video posted from the airport showed hundreds of frustrated passengers lining up for hotel vouchers. They will depart for Madrid Thursday at 8am.
‘The flight landed safely and the aircraft was taken out of service to be inspected by our maintenance team. Customers will re-depart for [Madrid] tomorrow on a replacement aircraft. We never want to disrupt our customers’ travel plans and apologize for the inconvenience this has caused,’ the carrier said in a statement.
‘Safety is always at the top of our list! Delays are never an easy decision but sometimes are needed to ensure the safety of everyone on board,’ American said in a separate statement on X.
On the same day as this incident, the FAA said it’s giving Boeing 90 days to come up with a plan to fix quality problems and meet safety standards for building planes after a panel blew off a brand-new Boeing 737 Max jetliner last month.
The agency said the directive followed all-day meetings Tuesday with top Boeing officials at FAA headquarters in Washington.
Boeing CEO David Calhoun said that ‘we have a clear picture of what needs to be done’ because of company and independent reviews. ‘Boeing will develop the comprehensive action plan with measurable criteria that demonstrates the profound change that Administrator Whitaker and the FAA demand.’
The FAA did not indicate what action it might take if Boeing fails to meet the 90-day deadline.
The FAA is currently completing an audit of assembly lines at the factory near Seattle, where Boeing builds planes like the Alaska Airlines 737 Max that suffered a door-panel blowout on Jan. 5. Investigators say bolts that help keep the panel in place were missing after repair work.
That incident has raised scrutiny of Boeing to its highest level since two crashes of Boeing 737 Max jets in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people.
Whitaker toured the 737 factory two weeks ago. He met with FAA inspectors who are reviewing Boeing’s operations and talked with Boeing engineers and mechanics about safety issues, according to the FAA.
This week, a panel of industry, government and academic experts issued a report that found shortcomings in the safety culture at Boeing, which the company says it has been working to improve.
Earlier this month, Boeing replaced the executive who had overseen the 737 program since early 2021 and said it was increasing inspections at the 737 plant in Renton, Washington.