U.S. News

Alaska Airlines Cancels All Boeing 737 Max 9 Flights Through Saturday

CLIPPED WINGS

The cancellation “equates to between 110 and 150 flights per day,” according to the airline’s statement.

Alaska Airlines N704AL is seen grounded in a hangar at Portland International Airport.
Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images

Alaska Airlines announced on Wednesday that it will cancel all flights on the Boeing 737 Max 9 through Saturday.

This decision comes only days after a mid-air blowout of a door panel that caused an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday.

In an online statement, Alaska Airlines said that it was awaiting documentation from Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration before it could begin investigating its fleet of 65 737 Max 9 aircrafts, all of which have already been grounded.

ADVERTISEMENT

The cancellation, “equates to between 110 and 150 flights per day,” the statement from Alaska Airlines said. “We hope this action provides guests with a little more certainty, and we are working around the clock to reaccommodate impacted guests on other flights.”

The statement also included a list of the three things which must be in place prior to inspections, and noted that as a party to the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation, the “FAA works to ensure that inspection details address findings that may have surfaced during this process, even if not yet shared with the public.”

The National Transportation Safety Board is currently investigating whether the door was bolted properly.

While Boeing CEO David Calhoun acknowledged that a “quality escape occurred” allowing the plane off of the runway, Boeing has been accused of pushing the passenger capacity of its planes to the limit.

United Airlines also canceled all of its Max 9 flights on Wednesday, and told pilots it expected “meaningful cancellations” on Thursday.