Redmond Airport minimally affected by Alaska Airline’s emergency 737 Max-9 inspections
Published 10:52 am Saturday, January 6, 2024
- An Alaska Airlines craft sits on a runway.
Alaska Airlines grounded all 737 Max-9 planes for inspection after a section of fuselage blew out during a flight Friday night from Portland, but the safety action is expected to have little impact on the airline’s flights from Redmond Airport, an official said.
While airborne, the plane experienced rapid depressurization after one of the doors detached from the body of the plane. The flight was forced to return to Portland International Airport for an emergency landing. No one was killed or injured.
Despite the fact that Alaska Airlines resumed seasonal flights from Redmond to Portland from Nov. 29 to April 10, very few of the flights departing the airport are aboard 737 Max-9 planes, said Redmond Airport Director Zachary Bass on Saturday. Any impact is expected to be minimal, Bass said.
“Right now, we have 11 departures with the 737 Max-9 scheduled over the month of January. We don’t know what Alaska Airlines plans are, but that equates to about 2% of our flights over the course of the month,” said Bass.
As of Saturday morning, Alaska Airlines announced a quarter of their 737 Max-9 planes were returned to service after an issue-free inspection.
Customer service lines for Alaska Airlines had a wait time of over six hours Saturday. In response to frequent queries about flights from the Pacific Northwest inbound to Texas, the airline released information that none of those flights were impacted.