Alaska Airlines Blowout: Airline's CEO Issues Update on Boeing—'Sorry'

The CEO of Alaska Airlines has apologized to passengers for the ongoing disruption to the airline's service after it grounded its fleet of Boeing 737 MAX-9 planes following an incident in which a section of fuselage broke away mid-flight.

"To all who have been impacted by these disruptions, I am sorry," Ben Minicucci told customers in a video statement as he issued an update on the airline's response on Wednesday. "When you make plans, you put your trust in us, and we haven't been able to deliver."

On January 5, a window panel of an Alaska Airlines flight traveling from Portland, Oregon to Ontario, California broke away a few minutes after take-off. The flight returned to Portland and was able to land safely.

The section that broke away was known as a door plug—a window panel slotted into a hole in the fuselage that can accommodate an emergency exit.

Minicucci said he was "incredibly grateful to the crew who responded with extraordinary professionalism" during the event, and apologized again to the passengers who had been on board the flight.

The incident raised questions as to why such a dramatic incident would occur on a relatively new plane, which had only been delivered to Alaska Airlines on October 31 last year.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is leading the investigation into the incident, has suggested it did not think a design flaw was at fault, but that the bolts holding the panel in place may have not been tightened enough.

On January 8, Alaska Airlines noted preliminary inspections indicated "loose hardware" was visible on some planes, while United Airlines said that some bolts on its Boeing 737 MAX-9s had been found to need "additional tightening."

The same day the incident occurred, Alaska Airlines opted to voluntarily ground its fleet of 65 Boeing 737 MAX-9 planes while it carried out inspections. The company has said that the grounding of around 20 percent of its entire fleet of aircraft was leading to between 110-150 cancellations a day, and would extend through at least Friday.

The following day, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded all Boeing 737 MAX-9 planes with door plugs operating within the U.S. so they could undergo immediate inspections.

Boeing has said it "deeply regret[s]" the January 5 incident, and that it would fully cooperate with the FAA and the NTSB in their investigations.

Boeing executive Stan Deal has since announced that the company was increasing quality inspections on its production line, had commissioned an independent assessment of its quality control, and had offered 737 operators the opportunity to inspect its factories.

Minicucci said inspections on the affected Alaska Airlines aircraft began on January 13 and they would return to active service "only when all findings have been fully resolved." He added that the company did not yet know how long the process would take.

"I know these issues impact you, and you may have questions about what this means not just for your travel plans, but for the safety of you and your loved ones," Minicucci said. "Please know there is nothing more important to all of us at Alaska Airlines than the safety of our employees, and you—our guests."

He said he had asked Alaska Airlines' reservations team to give customers booked on cancelled flights "as much advance notice as possible," and that it was "working around the clock to re-accommodate people on other flights."

The company said that its sister airline, Horizon Air, had taken on some routes usually flown by Alaska Airlines in the intervening period.