Spotlight on Southwest Airlines and Boeing After Plane's Emergency Landing (LUV, BA)

A Boeing BA plane operated by Southwest Airlines LUV that was forced to make an emergency landing on Friday due to a hole in the cabin was found to have widespread weakness in the fuselage, investigators announced Sunday. National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt said at a news conference that post-flight inspections revealed "widespread cracking across" the damaged area. "Was the aircraft well maintained and should it have been maintained better? That is exactly why we are here, to look at why this problem occurred," he said today. According to a Reuters report, "The incident on Friday prompted Southwest, the largest domestic airline by passengers flown, to ground planes and cancel hundreds of flights over the weekend so it could inspect its older model 737-300s." The plane emergency landed in Arizona. Small problems were found on two other planes, which may require further repair. 19 other planes were inspected and approved for flight by Sunday. It appears limited to the carrier. Shares of Southwest Airlines gained $0.04, or 0.32%, to close at $12.67 Friday. The Reuters report notes that the Boeing "737-300 represents roughly 20 percent of Southwest's all-737 fleet, the most popular commercial aircraft ever and a workhorse globally." Boeing closed slightly higher Friday, to $74.01. The company's stock has had a relatively strong year-to-date, and executives hope that there aren't further problems beyond the Dreamliner project.