Boeing Financial News

By Valerie Insinna and Tim Hepher

U.S. stocks closed slightly higher on Friday to wrap up the first trading week of 2024, however the major averages suffered their first weekly decline in ten weeks amid growing uncertainty over when the Federal Reserve may begin to cut interest rates.

By David Shepardson, Valerie Insinna and Tim Hepher

(Reuters) — A piece of fuselage tore off the left side of an Alaska Airlines-operated Boeing (NYSE:BA) 737 MAX 9 jet as it climbed following takeoff from Portland, Oregon, en route to Ontario, California, forcing pilots to turn back and land safely with all 171 passengers and six crew on board.

The US Federal Aviation Administration ordered the temporary grounding of certain Boeing (NYSE:BA) 737 MAX 9 jets flown by US airlines, after one such aircraft belonging to Alaska Air Group Inc (NYSE:ALK) lost an emergency exit door midair on Friday.

By David Shepardson, Valerie Insinna and Tim Hepher

By Valerie Insinna, Tim Hepher and David Shepardson

Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) grounded its fleet of 65 Boeing (NYSE:BA) 737 Max planes after an incident involving a section of one of the planes ripping off in midair during a flight.

grounded certain Boeing 737 MAX 9 jetliners for safety checks following a cabin panel blowout that forced a new Alaska Airlines jet carrying passengers to make an emergency landing. A piece of fuselage tore off the left side of the jet as it climbed following takeoff from Portland, Oregon, en route to Ontario, California, on Friday, forcing pilots to turn back and land safely with all 171 passengers and six crew on board.

Boeing 737 Max 9 jet in Portland, Oregon, led the Federal Aviation Administration to order some U.S. airlines to stop using some Max 9 planes until they are inspected. The order will affect about 171 planes owned by Alaska, United and other airlines. The episode also raised troubling new questions about the safety of a workhorse aircraft design dogged by years of problems and multiple deadly crashes. No one was seriously injured in Friday's incident. The jetliner returned to the airport shortly after the plane's fuselage broke open in midair, leaving a door-size hole in the side of the aircraft. Within hours of the episode, Alaska Airlines said it would ground all 65 of the Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft in its fleet until mechanics could carefully inspect each plane. Later on Saturday, the FAA ordered the temporary grounding of planes in some other airlines' fleets. The National Transportation Safety Board also said it was investigating the cause of the incident. Jessica Kowal, a spokesperson for Boeing, said in a statement, «We agree with and fully support the FAA's decision to require immediate inspections of 737-9 airplanes with the same configuration as the affected airplane.» And although the particular technical issue that led to Friday's scare appeared unique, Boeing's 737 Max airliners have perhaps the most worrisome history of any modern jetliner currently in service.

Nicholas Hoch was relaxing with a podcast onboard Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 as it left Portland, Oregon, on Friday night. A few minutes later he was texting his mother and girlfriend to say he loved them and wondering whether he would die. Hoch said he knew something was seriously wrong when the plane lights flickered shortly after takeoff, and a rush of air ripped off his hat. He would later learn the whoosh of wind also tore out some passengers’ earbuds and even ripped the shirt off a teenager’s back.

Boeing is asking federal regulators to exempt a new model of its 737 Max airliner from a safety standard designed to prevent part of the engine housing from overheating and breaking off during flight. Federal officials said last year that Boeing was working to fix the hazard on current Max planes. In the meantime, they told pilots to limit use of an anti-icing system in some conditions to avoid damage that «could result in loss of control of the airplane.» Without a fix ready, Boeing asked the Federal Aviation Administration last month for an exemption to safety standards related to engine inlets and the anti-ice system through May 2026. Boeing needs the exemption to begin delivering the new, smaller Max 7 to airlines.

DGCA) on Saturday asked Indian carriers to immediately inspect the emergency exits of their B737-8 Max aircraft as a precautionary measure following the Alaska Airlines incident on Friday. An emergency exit door of Alaska Airlines's B737-9 Max aircraft – which was en route from Portland, Oregon, to Ontario, California – blew out soon after takeoff, forcing the plane to conduct an emergency landing back in Portland on Friday evening. Air India Express, SpiceJet, and Akasa Air have B737-8 Max aircraft in their fleet in the country. In total, the three airlines have 43 737 Max aircraft in their fleet.

Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft following a cabin panel blowout late Friday that forced a brand-new airplane operated by Alaska Airlines to make an emergency landing. «The FAA is requiring immediate inspections of certain Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes before they can return to flight,» FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said on Saturday. «Safety will continue to drive our decision-making as we assist the NTSB's investigation into Alaska Airlines Flight 1282.»

Boeing faces new scrutiny about the safety of its best-selling plane after federal officials announced the temporary grounding of Boeing 737-9 Max planes on Saturday, following a harrowing flight in which an Alaska Airlines jetliner was left with a gaping hole in its side. The Federal Aviation Administration said it was requiring immediate inspections of Max 9 planes operated by U.S. airlines or flown in the United States by foreign carriers.

American carrier Alaska Airlines, Indian aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), on Saturday, asked airlines in the country to inspect the emergency exits on the Boeing 737-8 Maxs in their fleet. Earlier on Friday, the window, emergency exit door, and the fuselage of an Alaska Airlines-operated Boeing 737-8 Max blew out during a flight, prompting the carrier to ground its fleet of Boeings.

The runway fire in Tokyo is providing a key test of the safety of carbon-composite material on planes

LONDON (Reuters) — Britain's services firms grew more strongly in December than initially thought and optimism hit a seven-month high, according to a survey that will be welcome news for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who is expected to hold an election later this year.

Akasa Air is set to close an order for around 150 Boeing 737 MAX narrowbody planes, two sources said, its latest bid to tap the travel boom in the world's fastest-growing aviation market. Contract negotiations are ongoing and a deal is expected to be announced at Wings India, the country's largest civil aviation event scheduled for Jan. 18-21, said the two sources familiar with the ongoing talks. An Akasa spokesperson said the airline does not comment on speculation, while Boeing did not respond to Reuters' queries.

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Boeing is asking airlines to inspect its 737 Max jets for a potential loose bolt in the rudder control system, the airplane maker and Federal Aviation Administration confirmed this week