Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) has been permitted by Federal regulators to fly those 128 Boeing 737 aircrafts, which were grounded by the airline after missing some required inspections on the planes' standby hydraulic system that serves as a back-up to the primary hydraulic systems
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration gave Southwest a maximum of five days to complete the checks, and allowed the carrier to continue to fly the planes, after approving an action plan to remedy the deficit.
Dallas, Texas-based Southwest grounded 128 Boeing 737-700s, about one-fifth of its fleet, for about six hours Tuesday after discovering the missed inspections and notifying the FAA.
There were about 80 cancellations on Tuesday, and the airline is anticipating very minimal impact to its Wednesday operation as remaining checks are completed, according to a statement from Southwest.
Southwest is the world's largest operator of Boeing 737s, the world's most widely flown jetliner. The airline has been involved in largescale inspections and groundings before.
In 2009, Southwest inspected all 181 of its Boeing 737-300 jets before putting them back in the sky after a foot-long hole opened in a plane's fuselage, forcing the aircraft to make an emergency landing in Charleston, West Virginia.
Southwest was ordered to pay a record $10.2 million fine after flying 46 jets on almost 60,000 flights in 2006 and 2007 without full inspections for possible fuselage cracks.
Southwest Airlines shares are currently trading at $44.43, down 92 cents or 2.03%.
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