From (more) grounded jets to an emergency landing, plus unrelated US federal fines, last week was a bad week for Boeing. And, unfortunately, the company was not alone when it came to noteworthy news from the skies, including a mask-related assault on a Delta flight attendant, staggering BA losses, and more WestJet labour woes.

The world’s largest aerospace manufacturer began the week by recommending that its airlines flying its own Boeing 777 aircraft ground the planes for inspection following an engine explosion over Denver that spewed wreckage over neighbourhoods below and forced an emergency landing at Denver International Airport.

Several airlines, including United, said they were temporarily removing the aircraft while Japan immediately ordered the planes out of service.

The Boeing warning was made official on Tuesday with an order by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to ground all planes equipped with certain Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines, which are used solely on Boeing 777s. Before the planes can fly again, operators must conduct a thermal acoustic image inspection of the large titanium fan blades at the front of each engine.

Alas, not all 777 aircraft were grounded, including one that, according to Russian media on Friday, was forced to make an emergency landing in Moscow after the pilot reported a problem with the engine.

The Interfax news agency cited an anonymous source saying that the pilot on the flight from Hong Kong to Madrid reported a failure of one of the left engine control channels and requested an emergency landing at the Moscow Sheremetyevo airport.

The plane carrying both cargo and passengers landed safely and no one was injured, the report said.

And a fine

In between its operational issues, US federal regulators announced on Thursday that US$5.4 million in civil penalties had been imposed against Boeing for violating terms of a $12-million settlement in 2015, and that the aircraft maker had agreed to pay another $1.21 million to settle two current enforcement cases.

The FAA said that Boeing managers failed to put adequate priority on living up to the earlier settlement and complying with FAA regulations.

It was merely the latest brush with regulators for Chicago-based Boeing. In January, the company agreed to pay $2.5 billion to avoid prosecution by the US Justice Department for defrauding the FAA during development of the 737 Max, the airplane that was involved in two crashes that killed 346 people. Boeing admitted that two former employees misled FAA about a key flight system implicated in the crashes.

The two new enforcement cases for which Boeing will pay $1.21 million involve a program under which Boeing employees conduct safety assessments on new planes on behalf of the FAA.

In one case, the agency said Boeing “exerted undue pressure or interfered with” those employees at a plant in South Carolina where the company makes its twin-aisle 787 plane. In the other related case, Boeing had those employees reporting to the wrong managers and becoming subject to pressure or interference in connection with aircraft inspections.

United Airlines

In another case in the US, it was reported that United Airlines will pay more than $49 million to settle criminal and civil accusations of defrauding the US post office in the handling of international mail. The US Justice Department said Friday that former employees of United’s cargo division falsified parcel delivery information for several years and, a result, the airline collected millions of dollars in payments that it should not have received. United is agreeing to pay about $17 million in criminal penalties and forfeited revenue to end the criminal investigation. United will also pay more than $32 million in related civil penalties.

In 2019, American Airlines agreed to pay $22.1 million to settle similar allegations that it falsified information about international mail deliveries.

Air rage

US federal officials said last week that they are also seeking a $27,500 civil penalty against an airline passenger who allegedly struck a flight attendant who asked the passenger and a companion to leave the plane after a dispute over wearing a face mask.

The FAA says the confrontation on board a Delta Air Lines flight in October began when the passenger’s companion refused to wear a mask, secure his tray table or fasten his seatbelt. Delta, like most airlines, requires most passengers to wear masks except when eating or drinking.

Pilots returned the plane to the gate, and the pair was asked to disembark. The first passenger began yelling at the flight attendant and other passengers, then hit the flight attendant under her left eye.

The FAA did not identify the offending passenger or say whether they were a man or a woman. The person has 30 days to respond to the penalty.

The FAA announced tighter enforcement of rules against disturbances on planes after several rowdy incidents in early January on flights to and from Washington related to the Capitol insurrection.

British Airways

From the boardroom, the parent company of British Airways and Iberia says it lost €6.9 billion ($10.6 billion) in 2020 as the pandemic caused a near-total collapse in international air traffic. IAG’s after-tax loss compared with a profit of 1.7 billion euros the year before. Its revenue slumped 70 percent to €7.8 billion ($11.99 billion). The company on Friday also backed calls for digital health certificates to be issued to people who have been vaccinated against the new coronavirus as a way to help get passengers back on planes in a safe way. Passenger capacity at IAG’s airlines in 2020 was just 33 percent of what it was the previous year. In the current quarter, it is estimated at just 20 percent of what it was in the same period of 2019.

WestJet

And lastly, WestJet said it will lay off an undisclosed number of pilots amid negotiations with the union that represents them. Airline spokeswoman Morgan Bell said the layoff notices are going out ahead of the expiration of a memorandum of agreement on March 31. The number of affected pilots was not disclosed.

This follows an announcement on Feb. 5 that the airline would lay off 120 cabin crew members as of March 2. WestJet blamed the measure on the on the federal government mandate for Canadian carriers to suspend all flights to Mexico and the Caribbean until April 30 in an effort to limit the spread of COVID-19.