Boeing CEO says Alaska Airlines fallout ‘is and must be the focus our team'

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun shared a message with his employees about the Alaska Airlines flight 1282 in which company's aircraft 737 MAX 9 suffered a door plug blowout mid air on Friday. The Boeing CEO said, "When serious accidents like this occur, it is critical for us to work transparently with our customers and regulators to understand and address the causes of the event, and to ensure they don’t happen again".

The company plans to hold a company wide webcast on safety on Tuesday to address its response to the mishap. Alaska Airlines on Saturday said it will ground its entire fleet of Boeing Co. 737 Max 9 aircraft temporarily. The airline is taking the “precautionary step" to temporarily ground the fleet of 65 planes until completion of full maintenance and inspection, Alaska Airlines Chief Executive Officer Ben Minicucci said.

On Saturday, Boeing Co. 737 Max 9 aircraft's fuselage section in the rear part blew out shortly after takeoff. Flight 1282 was carrying 171 passengers and six crew from Portland, Oregon, to Ontario, California. Nobody was injured in the incident. Following the incident, Alaska Airlines returned 18 of its 65 737 Max 9 aircraft to service.

Besides, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) also asked airlines to temporarily ground certain 737 MAX 9 airplanes until inspections are performed, affecting 171 airplanes. "We have grounded the affected airplanes, and they will remain grounded until the FAA is satisfied that they are safe," the FAA said.

About 215 737 MAX 9 jets are in service worldwide, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. Only about 171 feature the plug door that was blown out during the flight. In just months, Boeing Co. has suffered a series of quality lapses that threaten to erode trust in the manufacturing prowess of the biggest US exporter.

The NTSB, which arrived on the scene in Portland within hours of the incident, will examine Boeing’s manufacturing process for the 737 Max 9 as it investigates what may have led to the panel’s blowout. Investigators will likely look into how the doors are plugged and even question why they exist if they can come open, Bloomberg news agency reported.

The cascading grounding marks the most severe response since Boeing’s entire fleet of Max aircraft was parked in 2019 following two deadly crashes. The 737 Max is by far the company’s most popular aircraft and its biggest source of revenue. The blowout puts the focus back on Boeing’s manufacturing controls just as it was gearing up to raise the output of its cash cow model and turn the corner on past defects.

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