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Southwest's 737 Max Ferry Flight Makes Emergency Landing

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Southwest Airlines Co.’s (LUV - Free Report) Boeing 737 Max aircraft made an emergency landing yesterday at Orlando International Airport following an engine-related issue, per reports by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The Southwest 8701 was a ferry flight without passengers enroute to a storage facility in California from Orlando. The carrier is said to have been ferrying its fleet of 34 MAX jets to this storage facility. Post the abrupt landing, Southwest ordered the aircraft be taken to a maintenance facility in Orlando for review.

The FAA is investigating this case and has assured that the issue did not emanate from an anti-stall software that is believed to have caused the two deadly crashes involving Boeing 737 Max 8 planes within a few months’ gap.

Some weeks back, the FAA ordered the grounding of 737 MAX following the two fatal air crashes. However, carriers are allowed to operate ferry flights on the aircraft.

With the Southwest fleet consisting of 34 737 Max aircraft, the mass-scale groundings might have an impact on the carrier’s operations. However, market watchers believe, it will not be difficult for the company to cope with it by adjusting the flight schedules and resorting to other aircraft.

Labor Deal With Material Specialists

On a positive note, Southwest announced the approval of a five-year labor contract by its Material Specialists, represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT). The agreement became effective immediately after ratification.

Under this contract, the employees will receive pay hikes in the next five years. The contract is amendable in April 2024.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Southwest carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the same space are Azul (AZUL - Free Report) , SkyWest, Inc. (SKYW - Free Report) and Swire Pacific Ltd. (SWRAY - Free Report) , each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Shares of Azul and Swire Pacific have rallied more than 72% and 14%, respectively, in the past six months. Meanwhile, the SkyWest stock flaunts an impressive earnings history, having trumped the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, the average being 16.9%.

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