Boeing has reiterated previous guidance for 787 operators following an 11 March LATAM Airlines flight during which "strong movement" led to 10 passengers and three crew members needing medical attention. A 787-9 (MSN 38461, registered CC-BGG) operating flight LA800 from Sydney in Australia to Chilean capital Santiago – with a scheduled stop in Auckland in New Zealand – made "a strong movement whose causes are being investigated", the carrier said on 11 March. The twinjet, carrying 263 passengers plus nine crew members, arrived at Auckland airport on time after the incident. Most of the passengers and crew members who received medical attention were discharged shortly thereafter. "Only one passenger and one crew member present injuries that require more attention," LATAM said at the time. LATAM scheduled a new flight departing Auckland on 12 March to continue the journey to Santiago for flight LA800 passengers. The carrier said it was "working in co-ordination with [aviation] authorities to assist in the investigations into the case". Boeing says that the LA800 probe is ongoing, and that it is deferring to investigation authorities on any potential findings, which may relate to switches on flightdeck seats. "We have taken the precautionary measure of reminding 787 operators of a service bulletin issued in 2017 which included instructions for inspecting and maintaining switches on flightdeck seats," Boeing says, adding: "We are recommending operators perform an inspection at the next maintenance opportunity." Boeing notes that it regularly issues guidance and bulletins to operators.

Negotiations for the sale of a majority share of flag carrier South African Airways have fallen through over a disagreement about the company's valuation. The Takatso Consortium, an investment fund created solely to acquire a controlling stake in SAA, had been in talks with the South African government to buy a 51% stake in the airline for around three years. But the two sides were unable to reach an agreement because of an updated valuation, according to the country’s government news agency. Pravin Gordhan, minister of public enterprises, said on 13 March that although a figure had been agreed three years ago, that needed revising given that the airline market has ramped up operations since then. “Late last year, clearly, we had a different market, we had a different economy, and we had a different flying public in terms of numbers of people that were flying and a new valuation was done,” he said. “And the new valuation…the business came out now at a value of R1 billion ($54 million) and the property went up to about R5.5 billion which meant that any negotiations on this transaction would have to take into account the new valuations that have emerged.” With the two sides unable to come to a “meeting of the minds” on an amount, the agreement was terminated by mutual consent, leaving SAA fully publicly-owned. Gordhan said that the “future remains bright” for the airline, dismissing the idea that it will rely on government bailouts, as it has done in the past, to remain flying. “We are convinced, in terms of the numbers available to us, that it can sustain itself for the next year to 18 months and there are various, other ways in which immediate financing can be obtained,” he said, adding that “at no stage” should the airline draw government funds. “It must run its operations as efficiently as it can and as profitably as it can and sustain itself.” The government envisages that the airline will increase the number of routes that it flies from around 19 currently to 40 over the coming years, with a corresponding increase in its fleet. SAA suffered from weak financing and substantial losses even before the pandemic hit, requiring significant government intervention to keep it afloat. It was in a period of business rescue, where it was overseen by a turnaround specialist, from December 2019 to April 2021, during which it was restructured and shed much of its fleet. Last summer, data shows, it was operating at around just a third of its pre-pandemic capacity, with around 30 flights per day. It currently has a fleet of 13 aircraft – six Airbus A320s, four Boeing 737s, two Airbus A330s and one A340, in service, plus six A340s in storage, according to fleets data. The South African government first announced that a sale to the Takatso Consortium had been finalised in February 2022, but the transaction became bogged down in disagreements over the carrier’s historical liabilities. Last year, the company said that it still required R2.59 billion in funding for historical flight refunds and dividend payments to creditors, which the government was refusing to provide, jeopardising the sale. The Takatso Consortium has been approached for comment.

US National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy has notified lawmakers that Boeing was unable to identify the staff who'd worked on the Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 door plug that separated from the aircraft in flight in January. "To date, we still do not know who performed the work to open, reinstall, and close the door plug on the accident aircraft," Homendy writes in a 13 March letter to the US senate committee on commerce, science and transport. "Boeing has informed us that they are unable to find the records documenting this work." The NTSB requested access to security-camera footage that might show detail of the door plug's installation during rivet repair work at Boeing's Renton facility in September 2023, prior to the aircraft's delivery. But Homendy says the investigators were told that the footage had been overwritten. "The absence of those records will complicate the NTSB’s investigation moving forward," she adds. Boeing says that video recordings are maintained on a rolling 30-day basis, "consistent with standard practice". The NTSB identified the door crew manager but was advised that the person was on medical leave. An attorney for the manager informed the NTSB that the person would not be able to provide a statement or interview to investigators, citing medical issues, says Homendy. Boeing did provide a list of all staff who reported to the manager in September. The NTSB had requested this to "help inform our efforts to uncover who may have been involved with, and who may have information on, the opening, reinstallation, and closure of the door plug on the accident aircraft". The list did not identify which personnel conducted the door plug work, however. When during a subsequent phone call Boeing chief executive Dave Calhoun was asked for names of staff who worked on the door plug, "he stated he was unable to provide that information and maintained that Boeing has no records of the work being performed", says Homendy. The NTSB is not seeking the employees' identities for punitive purposes, but to learn about Boeing's quality assurance processes and safety culture, she stresses. "Our only intent is to identify deficiencies and recommend safety improvements so accidents like this never happen again. "I have become increasingly concerned," she adds, "that the focus on the names of individual front-line workers will negatively impact our investigation and discourage such Boeing employees from providing NTSB with information relevant to this investigation." The NTSB will use its "authority to protect the identities of the door crew and other front-line employees who come forward with information relevant to the investigation [and] continue to actively encourage anyone who can provide our investigators with information. "For the public to perceive the investigation as credible, the investigation should speak with one voice – that being the independent agency conducting the investigation," Homendy writes. "Releasing investigative information without context is misleading to congress and the public and undermines both the investigation and the integrity of the NTSB." Boeing states: "We will continue supporting this investigation in the transparent and proactive fashion we have supported all regulatory inquiries into this accident. We have worked hard to honour the rules about the release of investigative information in an environment of intense interest from our employees, customers, and other stakeholders, and we will continue our efforts to do so." In its preliminary investigation about the 5 January accident, the NTSB last month presented a photo of the closed door-plug, immediately before interior restoration work, which showed that retainer bolts for the plug were missing in three out of four locations.