Executives StillSupport Boeing

The airline executives said the hole that ripped open on a 737 operated by Southwest last week won't stop them from buying more Boeing planes.

Both airlines are big Boeing customers — Southwest operates an all-Boeing fleet — and both are in the midst of modernizing their fleets with new planes. The remarks of their CEOs had to be a boost at Boeing's Chicago headquarters and its Seattle-based commercial aircraft operations.

Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said that Boeing pitched in immediately to help plan inspections and repairs of its older planes.

Kelly's remarks came just days after a senior Boeing engineer took Southwest off the hook of responsibility for the hole in the plane, dismissing speculation that Southwest's heavy flight schedule might have caused the plane to age faster than expected. Boeing expected those 737 models to have almost twice as many takeoffs and landings as the Southwest plane before the potential cause of the hole — metal fatigue — became a problem.

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