Contact: Horizon Air, Dan Russo, 206/431-4513
Bombardier Aerospace, Bert Cruickshank, + 1 416 375 3030
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sept. 13, 2007
Horizon Air Making Progress on Q400 Inspections
Some Bellingham Flights Cancelled
SEATTLE - Horizon Air continues to make progress on the landing gear inspections of its Bombardier Aerospace Q400 turboprops. The unplanned inspections are in response to a Transport Canada airworthiness directive (AD) issued Wednesday afternoon.
By the end of today, Horizon anticipates that nearly half of the Q400s in its fleet -- 16 of 33 aircraft -- will have been inspected, as per Transport Canada and Bombardier specifications, and returned to service.
To allow sufficient time for the inspections and the re-accommodation of customers whose travels are being affected, Horizon has canceled a number of flights through Friday. Of its daily average of 500 flights, Horizon canceled
154 flights on Thursday and 121 for Friday. Some cancellations are also expected over the weekend; schedule adjustments for Saturday will be in central reservations systems by 3 p.m. (Pacific time) Friday.
Horizon is asking its customers flying during this period to check on the status of their flights via horizonair.com or by calling the reservations center at 800-547-9308. Through Saturday, customers on affected Horizon flights are being offered refunds, being allowed to cancel at no charge, or are being re-accommodated without any change fee.
Aircraft will be returned to service and Horizon flights will be reinstated as the inspections are completed successfully.
Transport Canada's AD was produced in the wake of two landing gear failure incidents involving SAS-affiliated airlines in Europe. Horizon, which has operated the Canadian-manufactured Q400 since 2001, has never experienced any issues like those SAS recently encountered. Horizon currently operates the Q400 in 74- and 76-seat configurations. Horizon operates two other aircraft types in its all-Bombardier fleet, neither of which is subject to these inspections:
70-seat CRJ-700 regional jets and 37-seat Q200 turboprops.
Horizon serves 48 cities throughout California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and British Columbia and Alberta. Together, Horizon Air and Alaska Airlines serve 92 cities and are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK).
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