SEATTLE, Washington: This week, Alaska Airways mentioned it was paid US$160 million in “preliminary compensation” by Boeing on account of a panel that blew out of a 737 Max 9 airplane in mid-flight in January.
The airline additionally mentioned that it expects further compensation.
The compensation covers Alaska’s pretax loss associated to the accident, together with misplaced income and the price of returning its Max 9 fleet to service after the planes have been grounded for 3 weeks.
On January 5, a panel linked to an additional emergency exit blew off an Alaska Max 9 whereas flying at 16,000 ft over Oregon. Pilots landed safely, and no accidents have been reported.
Alaska rapidly grounded its different Max 9s following the incident, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) subsequently grounded all Max 9s within the U.S., which affected all airways that flew the jets.
On this week’s submitting, Alaska mentioned that for the January-March quarter, it expects to lose between $1.05 and $1.15 per share, with 95 cents per share of the losses being associated to the accident. In a FactSet survey, analysts mentioned they anticipated a lack of 86 cents per share.
“We’ve got acquired preliminary compensation from Boeing to deal with the monetary damages incurred because of Flight 1282 and the 737-9 MAX groundings,” the Seattle-based airline mentioned.
“As a part of this compensation, Boeing paid Air Group roughly $160 million in money in the course of the first quarter. Further compensation is predicted to be supplied past within the first quarter,” it added.
Alaska additional mentioned that with out the blowout, its first-quarter revenue would have been higher than its earnings in the identical interval of 2023.
