FYI - you can own a peice of N522VA (one year old virgin) 319....planetags have key chains from this aircraft....

Maybe they should have secured that spot in line 4 years ago after all. What with their Hawaiian purchase and all the money they spent on retrofits.

How anyone is still willing to buy one of these aircraft from Boeing is beyond my reasoning abilities.

Given the N8 series (and some N6 series) are still parked yet still part of Alaska still.....

Is there any chance or contingency plans to get these birds flying back with Alaska. I am unsure on the status of the pilots group and rating....but could the cross certifying pilots go back to airbus fairly quickly?

I know several are planned to go to AC....but that still leaves about 20 or so that are still "with Alaska".

Depending on the condition and type of storage, it would take at least 2-4 weeks to un-mothball those planes. Cross-certifications of pilots and maintainence would take even longer.

If Alaska returns the Airbuses to service it would be part of a longer term strategy shift (which I personally am rooting for, given the quality issues with Boeing), not a quick band-aid.

I mean, is anyone actually expecting a meaningful portion of the MAX9 fleet to be operational any sooner than that?

Based on this article, Alaska management seems to, given their cheery public statements (contrast with United's mum response).

i suspect that this major decision will be made once AS gets the results of the 40 aircraft inspections to give them a larger outlook.

im hoping all returns to normal by the end of the month….but I chose June 2024 in my Boeing pool and I’m standing firm.

I would be shocked if such a quick turnaround took place.

Alaska, at this point in time, still continues to cancel flights one day at a time. Their latest update only talks about inspecting 20 planes, and that's just the preliminary inspections to establish what the final inspection protocol is going to be. As of today, Boeing has provided a draft inspection protocol which FAA wants to test using preliminary inspections, after which it will potentially be sent back for revision. That means before planes can go back into the sky, we have

1. AS and UA perform preliminary inspections using this preliminary approved protocol
2. AS and UA having feedback of their own, or potentially discovering additional issues, as a result of doing these inspections
3. FAA requests updates to inspection protocol to address issues found during the preliminary inspections
4. repeat steps 1-3 until FAA is satisfied
5. final inspection protocol approved
6. grounded planes are inspected using final approved protocol and returned to service

I cannot see how all of this is going to happen in two weeks.

It appears maybe Alaska has access to about 10 320s at the moment. Perhaps this is not as feasible or useful as previously thought. I updated the wiki above.