One of the aircraft operated by the budget carrier Nok Air has been inspected as a matter of urgency in response to a US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) directive prompted by the discovery of a physical fault in specific models of the Boeing 737 aircraft, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT).
The FAA issued the airworthiness directive on Oct 3 requiring inspections to be conducted of the Boeing 737-600, -700, -700C, -800, -900 and -900ER series aircraft that are currently in operation worldwide.
The directive was published after the FAA received information that certain Boeing aircraft belonging to the series had developed cracks on the left and right sides of the fuselage areas connected to the wings, said CAAT director-general Chula Sukmanop.
He said the CAAT had ordered Nok Air, which flies the 737 planes of the series, to comply with the directive.
Wutthiphum Jurangkul, CEO of Nok Air, said on Wednesday that only one of the 22 planes in the airline's fleet needed to be inspected in line with the FAA's directive and that its technicians had finished their examination of the aircraft on Tuesday.
The plane is one of 14 aircraft in the Boeing 737-800 series.
