Boeing suffers another setback with Alaska Airlines emergency landing

Boeing says they have a technical team on standby to help the investigation into an incident involving an 737-9 Max aircraft operated by Alaska Airlines.

Boeing faces scrutiny over the safety of its aircrafts after an Alaska Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing Friday when a panel and window blew out. Although it’s unclear what or who was to blame for the incident, engineering and quality problems have plagued Boeing in recent years. The aircraft maker has seen a string of incidents that have results in tragedies, groundings and ongoing worries about safety. Perhaps the most notable incident, in 2019, all 737 Max planes were grounded across dozens of countries following crashes of two of of its jets — one in Ethiopia and one near Indonesia — that killed all 346 people on board. It was determined a design flaw in the plane was a major cause of the crashes. The US grounding lasted 20 months, with planes starting to return to service in December 2020. Other countries, including China, kept the planes on the ground even longer. The Max grounding was one of the most expensive corporate tragedies in history, costing the company more than $20 billion. And the costs are ongoing. Boeing has faced massive operating losses in recent quarters as it tries to deliver the huge backlog of 737 Max planes to customers and racks up cost overruns on other planes, including the aircraft that will replace the current Air Force One jets.