On January 24th, Alaska Airlines said that it would incur around $150 million in losses due to the suspension of its fleet of Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft.
One Alaska Airlines plane had its door plug blow out midair earlier this month, which led to the grounding of the whole fleet. Although no one was hurt, additional airframes were found to have manufacturing flaws, such as loose bolts, as a result of the subsequent bulk inspections.
Administrator Mike Whitaker of the FAA said that he and the agency are confident in moving on with the maintenance and inspection phase due to the thorough, improved assessment that our team accomplished after weeks of data collection. To be clear, however, Boeing will not be returning to normal operations.
According to Whitaker, the FAA will not grant any more requests to increase manufacturing of the 737 Max until the company’s quality control difficulties are remedied.
Even United Airlines has felt the effects of the grounded plane.
The financial damage was announced in conjunction with the airlines’ quarterly results. Investors may anticipate a return of $3 to $5 for their shares of the corporation. In Thursday’s early trade, its stock price increased by almost 3.5%.
Due to the grounding and the possibility of future supply delays, the business anticipates growth at or the low end for the following quarter despite earlier expectations of stronger growth.
Angry with Boeing about the Max 9 concerns, Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci expressed his complaints. Minicucci told the media that he was extremely frustrated and disappointed. Alaska Airlines was affected by this. Both the customers and the airline personnel were affected by this. He also wanted to know how Boeing planned to enhance their internal quality initiatives.
Following the FAA’s clearance for final inspections on Wednesday, Alaska Airlines announced that inaugural flights of Max 9 aircraft would commence on Friday.