Alaska Airlines grounds fleet of B737 MAX-9 aircraft
Alaska Airlines has grounded its fleet of Boeing 737 MAX-9s after one of its aircraft lost a window panel during a flight on Friday evening.
Flight 1282 from Portland, Oregon…
Alaska Airlines has grounded its fleet of Boeing 737 MAX-9s after one of its aircraft lost a window panel during a flight on Friday evening.
Flight 1282 from Portland, Oregon to Ontario, California, experienced an incident soon after departure. The aircraft with 171 passengers and 6 crew members on board landed safely back at Portland International Airport.
In a statement, Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci said: “At Alaska Airlines, safety is our foundational value and the most important thing we focus on every day.
“Following tonight’s event on Flight 1282, we have decided to take the precautionary step of temporarily grounding our fleet of 65 Boeing 737-9 aircraft.
“Each aircraft will be returned to service only after completion of full maintenance and safety inspections. We anticipate all inspections will be completed in the next few days.
“I am personally committed to doing everything we can to conduct this review in a timely and transparent way.
“We are working with Boeing and regulators to understand what occurred tonight, and will share updates as more information is available. The NTSB is investigating this event and we will fully support their investigation.
“My heart goes out to those who were on this flight – I am so sorry for what you experienced. I am so grateful for the response of our pilots and flight attendants. We have teams on the ground in Portland assisting passengers and are working to support guests who are traveling in the days ahead.”
Boeing said: “We are aware of the incident involving Alaska Airlines Flight #AS1282. We are working to gather more information and are in contact with our airline customer. A Boeing technical team stands ready to support the investigation.”
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