Alaska Airlines Completes Jackscrew Inspections -- No Problems Found.

Business Editors

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 4, 2000

Alaska Airlines (NYSE:ALK) today announced that it has completed the reinspection of jackscrew endplay on 17 MD-80 aircraft that were grounded after the airline learned that a company-manufactured tool used to conduct the tests could -- if positioned improperly -- yield inconsistent results.

The new inspections were conducted with a tool made by The Boeing Company. No problems were found and all 17 aircraft have been returned to service.

The aircraft were inspected throughout the night and early today in Seattle, Oakland, San Francisco and Phoenix. Alaska's fleet consists of 92 aircraft, 34 of which are MD-80s.

In order to complete the testing, Alaska canceled a total of 48 flights over a two-day period. The airline operates an average of 500 daily flights.

Passengers were reaccommodated in a variety of ways, including on other Alaska flights; on other airlines' flights; and on Alaska nonstop flights that were turned into one-stop flights.

"We sincerely apologize to our customers for any inconvenience they may have experienced over the past two days," said John Kelly, chairman and chief executive officer of Alaska Airlines. "But we also know that everyone would want us to err on the side of caution."

According to the MD-80 maintenance manual, carriers can measure jackscrew endplay using a tool made by the aircraft manufacturer or an equivalent substitute. While Alaska owns tools made by the aircraft manufacturer, it also uses several that were made in the carrier's machine shop. Over the past few days a question arose as to whether the carrier's tool is an approved equivalent substitute.

In side-by-side testing conducted by the airline, the endplay measurement using either tool produced the same results. However, the airline found that the measurements could vary if the carrier's tool was improperly positioned. Therefore, Alaska officials notified the FAA, and also announced that they would take the conservative step of immediately reinspecting the jackscrews on the affected aircraft using the tool made by the aircraft manufacturer.