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The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has directed federal aviation inspectors to ensure all commercial airlines operating in the US are in compliance with its safety standards, regulations and other directives. Calling the inspection order unprecedented, Reuters reports that the FAA wants a snapshot of compliance with an array of safety directives issued over the years that required inspections of other maintenance work, especially on older Boeing 737 jets. The order comes close on the heels of the FAA levying a $10.2 million (Rs 41 crore) fine on Southwest Airlines for safety inspection lapses. Southwest Airlines later grounded more than 40 of its aircraft until it could guarantee compliance with federal safety guidelines.

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It may appear somewhat strange that Southwest Airlines, America’s sixth largest carrier based in Dallas, should have failed to carry out mandatory structural safety inspections on some of its aircraft used for scheduled passenger flights. The airline had skipped mandatory checks for structural cracks caused by metal fatigue. On inspection, several airplanes were found with this serious flaw in the fuselage, conjuring horrors of the Aloha Airlines Boeing 737 accident in 1988 in which a portion of the fuselage ripped off in flight, leading to tragic loss of life.

Apart from penalising the errant airline, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered audit of all other airlines to verify the degree of legally enforceable regulatory compliance across the airline industry in the US. The process is scheduled to be completed by end-June. By all accounts, the FAA mandate presents a Herculean task as in the next three months the inspectors would be required to verify compliance of 10 FAA directives in a fleet of nearly 7,000 aircraft flying with over 100 airliners. In all probability, the FAA inspectors may not go beyond percentage check, with special attention to the ageing Boeing 737 fleet.