Southwest Airlines service not interrupted by 737 inspections

Southwest Airlines Flight 2294 traveling between Nashville and Baltimore needed to make an emergency landing in Charleston, W.Va., on Monday because of a hole that developed in the fuselage near the rear of the plane. The plane landed safely after some loss in cabin pressure. Southwest Airlines let followers know on Twitter that they would be inspecting all 181 of their 737-300 planes as a precaution. The inspection took place overnight and did not cause any delays or cancellations.

“We completed all of our inspections overnight during non-operating hours prior to the beginning of service today. No problems were found during the inspection, and so operations today are normal,” said Marilee McInnis, a spokeswoman for Southwest.

A picture taken by a passenger of the 1-by-1-foot hole is circulating on Twitter (via John Rhodes). Rhodes has more photos of the cabin and first responders.

— Jen Leo, Los Angeles Times Travel & Deal blogger

Top photo: An investigator looks at a hole on top of a Southwest Airlines plane that made an emergency landing in Charleston, W.Va. Credit: Associated Press / Chris Dorst/the Charleston Gazette.

Bottom photo: Hole from Southwest Airlines Flight 2294. Credit: John Rhodes

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 7:42 am by Jen Leo and is filed under Airline travel, Business Travel, News, Tips & Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.