April 4 (UPI) — Airplane manufacturer Boeing paid out $160 million to Alaska Airlines as compensation for an in-air mishap that forced the 737 Max 9 to land.
The airline said in a financial filing that its first quarter operation and results had been “significantly impacted” the incident involving Flight 1282 in January and the subsequent grounding of Boeing 737 Max 9 planes that stretched through February.
Alaska Airlines said the pretax losses totaled about $160 million, adding it had received that amount in initial compensation from Boeing during the first quarter “to address the financial damages.”
The airline said it still expects further compensation beyond its first-quarter filing which was updated on Thursday.
It added that absent the impact caused by the January incident in which a door panel blew off mid-flight on the Boeing aircraft flew off mid-flight, its first-quarter adjusted pretax profit would have risen 80% from the same quarter in 2023.
The growth was higher than estimates of a 30% improvement made before the groundings, which the airline attributed to “strategic network adjustments, strong demand within the quarter and continued recovery of West Coast business travel.”
“Although we did experience some book away following the accident and 737-9 Max grounding, February and March both finished above our original pre-grounding expectations due to these core improvements,” Alaska Airlines said.
