FAA Orders Temporary Grounding of Many 737 MAX-9s After Midair Incident on Alaska Air Flight

“The FAA is requiring immediate inspections of certain Boeing 737 MAX-9 planes before they can return to flight,” FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker said in a news release. “Safety will continue to drive our decision-making as we assist the [National Transportation Safety Board’s] investigation into Alaska Airlines Flight 1282.”

Shortly after the FAA order,
United Airlines
announced it was suspending service of its MAX-9 jets. It has 79 MAX-9 jets in its fleet.

“We agree with and fully support the FAA’s decision to require immediate inspections of 737-9 airplanes with the same configuration as the affected airplane,” Boeing said in an emailed statement. “In addition, a Boeing technical team is supporting the NTSB’s investigation into last night’s event. We will remain in close contact with our regulator and customers.”

The Friday night incident should generate a market response on Monday when Boeing stock opens for trading, considering investors’ long, complicated history with the MAX.

Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 took off from Portland, Ore., at about 8 p.m. on Jan. 5, lost part of the side fuselage, and was able to return safely to the Portland airport, the airline said. It was delivered to Alaska Air in November 2023.

“My heart goes out to those who were on this flight,” said Alaska Air CEO Ben Minicucci in a news release. “I am so sorry for what you experienced. I am so grateful for the response of our pilots and flight attendants. We have teams on the ground in Portland assisting passengers and are working to support guests who are traveling in the days ahead.”

Alaska Air is working with Boeing and the National Transportation Safety Board and expects inspections of the fleet to be completed in a few days.

The MAX jet was grounded worldwide between March 2019 and November 2020 following two deadly crashes within five months. Those crashes were blamed on flight-control software known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS.

Both crashes, Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, involved MAX-8 jets. So-called dash-eight jets are a little shorter than the dash-nine variant involved in Friday’s Alaska Airlines incident.

Boeing doesn’t break down its MAX deliveries by jet variant on its delivery website. The company has delivered almost 1,400 MAX jets to date and has some 4,000 MAX jets in its delivery backlog.

Jefferies analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu wrote Saturday that the MAX-9 accounted for about 20% of 2023 MAX deliveries, but only accounts for about 2% of the MAX backlog. She estimates there are about 220 in service around the world and noted that Alaska Air has completed about one-quarter of its inspections with “no concerning findings.”

Kahyaoglu rates Boeing shares Buy and has a $315 price target for the stock.

“We won’t know until all the investigations are completed, but it’s not likely to be a design issue but rather a manufacturing and inspections issue,” said AeroDynamic Advisory’s Richard Aboulafia. “Still, this is highly unwelcome news given the MAX’s troubled past.”

Boeing delivered 374 MAX jets in 2022 and 343 in 2023 through November. The aerospace company has been working through supply-chain problems and production slowdowns—and is aiming to ramp up MAX jet production in 2024.

Demand for the MAX, and all commercial jets, has been strong lately as air travel continues to recover from pandemic-era lows. Boeing stock is up 17% over the past 12 months, while shares of rival
Airbus
are up about 20%. The
Nasdaq Composite
and
S&P 500
are up about 37% and 21%, respectively.

At $249 a share, Boeing stock is still down roughly 44% from its record high of about $446—which it reached in March 2019 before the MAX grounding.

Corrections & Amplifications

Boeing’s MAX jet was grounded worldwide between March 2019 and November 2020. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said it was grounded between March 2019 and November 2024.

Write to Al Root at [email protected]