Alaska Air grounds Boeing 737 Max-9 fleet after window, fuselage blowout

By Julie Johnsson, Mary Schlangenstein and Isabel Reynolds

Alaska Airlines said it will ground its fleet of Boeing Co. 737 Max-9 jets after a window and a portion of the plane’s fuselage blew out shortly after take-off in Portland on Friday.

The airline is taking the “precautionary step” to temporarily ground the fleet of 65 planes until the completion of full maintenance and inspection, Chief Executive Officer Ben Minicucci said in a statement. Flight 1282 was carrying 171 passengers and six crew members from Portland to Ontario, California, the carrier said.

The crew reported a “pressurization issue,” according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA said they are investigating the matter. Boeing said it’s gathering more information and is in contact with the airline, and a technical team is ready to support the probe.

The incident comes as Boeing is working to rebuild confidence in the 737 Max, a crucial source of cash. The plane was a brand-new craft delivered to Alaska Airlines in October. Photos and video posted by passengers on Reddit and social messaging site X showed the window and what appeared to be an emergency exit missing from the jet. 

Inspections are expected to be completed in the next few days, Minicucci said.

FlightRadar24 said the plane was in the air for about 20 minutes and reached a maximum altitude of 16,300 feet.

The aircraft didn’t appear to have suffered the type of powerful decompression that occurred on a Southwest Airlines Co. plane in 2018 when part of an exploding engine shattered a window of the Boeing 737-700, partly sucking a woman seated next to it from the plane and killing her. Video from the Alaska Air craft showed passengers seated near the gaping hole.

“While this type of occurrence is rare, our flight crew was trained and prepared to safely manage the situation,” the carrier said. Alaska Air operates an all-Boeing fleet.