Boeing paid Alaska Airlines $160M following panel blowout during flight

Alaska Airlines on Thursday said that they expect additional money from Boeing after it paid them about $160 million after a panel blew out on an Alaska Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliner back in January.

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Alaska Airlines said that Boeing paid them the “initial compensation,” according to The Associated Press. The airlines expected more money but information regarding that has not been released.

“We have received initial compensation from Boeing to address the financial damages incurred as a result of Flight 1282 and the 737-9 MAX groundings,” the airline said, according to the AP. “As part of this compensation, Boeing paid Air Group approximately $160 million in cash during the first quarter. ... Additional compensation is expected to be provided beyond”

The payment is for lost profits, according to Reuters.

In a filing obtained by CNBC, Alaska Airlines said that its first quarter “results were significantly impacted by Flight 1282 in January and the Boeing 737-9 MAX grounding which extended into February.”

“Although we did experience some book away following the accident and 737-9 MAX grounding, February and March both finished above our original pre-grounding expectations,” Alaska said, according to Reuters.

Boeing didn’t comment immediately, according to CNBC.

Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 was forced to make an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon, in January after a door plug came off the plane — a Boeing 737 Max 9 — as it was ascending en route to California. The panel that blew off the plane landed in the Portland area, as did two cellphones that had been onboard.

After the incident, Alaska Airlines grounds its 737 Max 9s, the AP reported. The Federal Aviation Administration followed suit and grounded all of them in the United States. This move affected both Alaska Airlines and United Airlines.

The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the incident. According to the AP, the Justice Department is looking to see if the incident violated a settlement that was in place with Boeing in 2021.

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