Alaska Airlines Faces Yet Another Setback with Boeing in Emergency Landing Incident

Boeing is under scrutiny for the safety of its aircrafts following an Alaska Airlines flight that had to make an emergency landing on Friday due to a panel and window blowing out. While the cause of the incident is still unknown, Boeing has been dealing with engineering and quality issues in recent years. This has led to a series of incidents causing tragedies, groundings, and ongoing concerns about safety.

In 2019, all 737 Max planes were grounded worldwide after two crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia resulted in the deaths of 346 people. It was discovered that a design flaw in the plane contributed to both accidents. The US plane grounding lasted for 20 months, with planes beginning to resume service in December 2020. Some countries, such as China, kept the planes grounded for even longer.

The Max grounding goes down in history as one of the costliest corporate tragedies, with the company facing losses of over $20 billion. The financial burden continues as Boeing grapples with substantial operating losses in its recent quarters, striving to fulfill a substantial backlog of 737 Max planes and dealing with cost overruns on other aircraft, including those slated to supersede the current Air Force One jets.

Boeing has faced various issues in recent years. In December, the FAA advised airlines to inspect all 737 Max planes in their fleets due to missing bolts in two planes' rudder control systems. Additionally, in April, Boeing found a manufacturing issue in some 737 Max aircraft, as a supplier utilized a "non-standard manufacturing process" during the installation of two fittings in the rear fuselage. Although Boeing claimed it did not pose a safety risk.

Boeing has been subject to increased inspections for the Max since its return to service in 2020, which the company attributes to its heightened safety focus. However, the issues have extended beyond the Max, with Boeing experiencing significant operating losses in all quarters since 2019, except for one. Additionally, quality control issues forced the company to halt deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner widebody jet, impacting its financial performance despite the model not being grounded like the Max.

Boeing has incurred cost overruns on several other planes, resulting in losses of over $2 billion on the two aircraft currently being developed to replace the existing Air Force One jets. This report includes contributions from CNN's Pete Muntean and Gregory Wallace.