$1B lawsuit against Boeing, Alaska Airlines over door plug blowout settled, report says
NTSB blames Boeing for door plug blowout
The NTSB says the cause of last year's door plug blowout on an Alaska Airlines flight was Boeing's failure to "provide adequate training, guidance and oversight" to its factory workers.
Boeing and Alaska Airlines have settled a lawsuit with passengers who sued them for $1 billion over the door plug blowout.
KPTV FOX 12 in Portland, Oregon reported that three passengers who sued the two companies have settled the suit out of court and terms of the settlement were not disclosed. They also reported court documents showed the suit was dismissed with prejudice on July 7, meaning the plaintiffs can not refile the same claim against the companies in the future.
The backstory:
On January, 5, 2024, a Boeing 737-9 plane took off from Portland International Airport with 174 passengers and six crew members on board on its way to Ontario, California when it had to make an emergency landing back in Portland after a door plug blowout.
The Alaska flight climbed to 16,000 feet before turning around, flight data showed.
The NTSB released these images of investigators inspecting the door plug and the aircraft. (NTSB)
A passenger on the plane told KPTV he heard a "really loud bang" just as the plane reached cruising altitude, prompting the oxygen masks to drop.
The following day, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded certain Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes for immediate inspections. Alaska Airlines then took more than 60 Max 9's out of service for safety inspections.
NTSB blames Boeing for door plug blowout
The NTSB says the cause of last year's door plug blowout on an Alaska Airlines flight was Boeing's failure to "provide adequate training, guidance and oversight" to its factory workers.
In April 2024, Alaska Airlines said Boeing had paid the carrier $160 million in "initial compensation" for a panel that blew out of an Alaska Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliner in January.
The payment covered Alaska's pretax loss related to the accident, including lost revenue and the cost of returning its Max 9 fleet to service after the planes were grounded for three weeks.
Last month, the National Transportation Safety Board found Boeing at fault for the incident.
The Source: Information in this story came from KPTV in Oregon, The Associated Press and original reporting by FOX 13 Seattle.
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