Los Angeles (dpa) - Southwest Airlines has pulled two Boeing 737 Next Generation (NG) aircraft after identifying "signs of pickle fork cracking," the US airline said on Wednesday.
"Southwest has removed the two aircraft from our operation and reported the findings to Boeing and the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration]," Southwest said in an emailed statement, adding that "the aircraft will remain out of our schedule until the issues have been fully resolved."
The airline said that the cracks were found during inspections of the "pickle forks" on 737NG ordered by the FAA. "We did not find abnormalities on the vast majority of our inspected fleet," the statement said.
Pickle forks are connectors that attach the plane's wings to its fuselage (main body) and are designed to last the lifetime of a plane.
"Boeing notified the FAA of this issue and has been actively engaged with our 737NG customers globally in a plan to support the required inspections," Boeing said in an emailed statement, adding that the "issue does not affect any 737 MAX airplanes."
The issue emerged amid continuing difficulties for Boeing as it works to have the 737 MAX recertified after two crashes in October and March that killed 346 people. The company continues to be under pressure to correct software that appears to have caused the problem.
The US company is facing numerous lawsuits brought by the victims' families, as well as a new lawsuit filed Monday by the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA) which claims that Boeing "deliberately" misled the organization and its pilots about the aircraft.
Last month the FAA chief said that there is no timeline for the recertification of the jet.
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