Alaska Air Group announced Thursday that Boeing made a one-time payment totaling more than $160 million in the first quarter to compensate for the financial loss the airline suffered when its 737 MAX 9 aircraft were temporarily grounded.
According to a filing from Alaska, the amount is equal to lost revenue due to the accident and grounding in the first quarter, and the state also said it expects to receive additional compensation.
After a cabin panel blowout on an Alaska Air MAX 9 plane in January, the U.S. aviation regulator ordered 171 planes grounded for inspections. Later that month the grounding was lifted.
The FAA temporarily grounded nearly all Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft Friday evening in response to a near-catastrophic failure on an Alaskan Airlines flight.
On January 5, an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 took off from Portland, Oregon en route to California and was forced to make a harrowing emergency landing when the door plug blew out at 16,000 feet.
If true, that would make Boeing primarily responsible for the accident, not its supplier Spirit AeroSystems, which originally installed the panel on the plane in Wichita, Kansas.
