Alaska Airlines says the grounding of some Boeing planes will cost the airline $150 million
Alaska Airlines says the grounding of some Boeing planes will cost the airline $150 million
DALLAS — Alaska Airlines said Thursday that the grounding of its Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliners will reduce full-year profit by $150 million and slow down the airline's planned growth.
The planes have been grounded since shortly after the midflight blowout of a panel in the side of an Alaska plane over Oregon on Jan. 5.
Federal regulators announced late Wednesday that they approved an inspection process that, if followed by airlines, can allow Max 9s to resume flying. Alaska hopes to begin doing that on Friday and gradually bring back all 65 of its Max 9s by early February.
Alaska — which operates an all-Boeing 737 fleet — said it has started a review of Boeing’s production quality. The airline, however, is not breaking up with the troubled aircraft maker.
“Until this incident, we were happy with the Max,” said CEO Ben Minicucci, “but we are going to hold Boeing's feet to the fire to make sure that we get good airplanes out of that factory.”
Alaska officials said some customers have booked flights on other airlines since flight 1282, but they portrayed the impact as limited and short-term. They did not provide numbers.
“I think at first, people will have some questions, some anxiety, just like they did” after two crashes involving Boeing Max 8s that forced Boeing to get the plane re-certified, Minicucci said, “but I believe over time the confidence will get back into this airplane.”
The Alaska CEO and his counterpart at United Airlines — frustrated that the Max 9 grounding forced them to cancel hundreds of flights — used stronger language to blast Boeing earlier this week. American Airlines CEO Robert Isom chimed in on Thursday,
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