Alaska Completes Inspections of 31 Boeing MD-80s.

Business Editors

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 10, 2000

Alaska Airlines announced today that it has inspected 31 of its 34 Boeing MD-80 aircraft and released 26 of the planes back into service after inspections of their jackscrews revealed no problems.

&uot;The 26 aircraft that have been released back into service have been thoroughly checked and given a clean bill of health,&uot; said Bill Ayer, Alaska's president. &uot;We want to assure the flying public that no aircraft will be released back into service until this check is completed.&uot;

Of the remaining five aircraft that have been inspected, no problems were found with three that are currently undergoing regularly scheduled heavy maintenance, while two aircraft have been grounded after discrepancies with the jackscrews were discovered this morning.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board are en route to look at the two aircraft with discrepancies. One aircraft is located in Seattle, the other in Portland.

Three aircraft remain to be inspected. All three are undergoing regularly scheduled heavy maintenance checks and will be thoroughly checked before they are released back into service.

Alaska began voluntary inspections Wednesday as a precaution after the NTSB reported that the jackscrew from the aircraft involved in the tragedy of Flight 261 on January 31 had been recovered and was found to be damaged.

The jackscrew is a mechanism that drives the airplane's horizontal stabilizer up and down and limits its range of travel.