United Airlines blamed the door plug blowout on a Boeing 737 Max jet for a dismal quarter, saying the incident cost it $200m—and it wasn't even on a United Airlines flight. Boeing's woes are echoing throughout the industry, from the worldwide grounding of its suspect jets to insiders going public with embarassing and alarming claims about cost- and corner-cutting.
United has 79 Boeing 737 MAX 9s in its fleet, more than any of its rivals, and second only to Alaska Airlines. United and Alaska were forced to cancel thousands of flights as inspections were carried out in January before the US aviation regulator cleared the planes to resume flying. The BBC has contacted Boeing for comment on United's announcement. Earlier this month, Boeing paid $160m to Alaska to make up for losses the airline has suffered.
Though no-one was harmed in the Alaska Airlines blowout after takeoff from Portland's airport, it revived the intense scrutiny that followed two crashes of 737 Max 8 passenger jets in 2018 and 2019 which killed 346 people.
Previously: Boeing fires the head of its 737 Max program
