Bombardier orders inspections after crashes

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Canadian plane manufacturer Bombardier has asked airlines to inspect its Q400 aircraft after two of the planes, operated by Scandinavian Air, crash-landed in Europe this week.

Bombardier recommends that airlines inspect the main landing gear of planes that have accumulated more than 10,000 flights.

Seattle-based Horizon Air canceled 120 Wednesday flights to inspect 19 planes, it said, and expected to cut 156 flights on Thursday, with more cuts expected Friday to insure complete inspections. Horizon normally averages 500 flights a day.

Horizon has operated the Q400 since 2001 and has not experienced any issues like those that Scandinavian Air encountered.

British airlines Flybe has grounded nine of its 33 Q400s, while Scandinavian Air has grounded all 27 of the Q400s it owns.

Early Wednesday morning, the right wing landing gear of a Q400 crumpled in Lithuania during an emergency landing. The previous Sunday, another Q400 in Denmark failed in a similar way.

There are 60 known Q400s that have logged over 10,000 flights, but the company is recommending that airlines ground their entire fleets for inspections. Bombardier has delivered around 160 Q400s worldwide. The Q400s are small planes used frequently by regional carriers.

The inspections are precautionary, and will be done on planes with higher flight hours, and flights will resume after inspections are complete. The landing gear is manufactured by Goodrich Corporation (Charts, Fortune 500).

Horizon and Alaska Airlines are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group (Charts).