Last week, a shattered fan blade caused a Southwest Airlines CFM56 engine to explode inflight, resulting in the carrier’s first passenger fatality in its 47-year history. The accident prompted the FAA to order mandatory emergency ultrasonic inspections of fan blades within the next 20 days.
Southwest canceled 40 flights Sunday — 1 percent of its fleet — and announced 128 flights canceled Monday to accelerate inspections, which they announced were voluntary and initiated before the FAA’s emergency directive.
Twenty-nine of Monday's cancellations are at Sky Harbor alone. Since Southwest isn’t the only carrier to use the CFM56 engine, it remains to be seen if more schedules will be upended in the future.
Seth Kaplan, managing partner of Airline Weekly, joined The Show to give us a picture of the airline industry post-accident.
