Boeing, Alaska Airlines point fingers at each other in lawsuit over door plug blowout
Boeing and Alaska Airlines have separately denied any legal responsibility for the injuries allegedly caused to dozens of passengers after a door plug blew out of a 737-Max 9 jet during a flight in January.
Boeing and Alaska Airlines have separately denied any legal responsibility for the injuries allegedly caused to dozens of passengers after a door plug blew out of a 737-Max 9 jet during a flight in January.
In its formal answers this week to a class-action lawsuit brought by dozens of passengers of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, Boeing generally acknowledged the preliminary findings of a National Transportation Safety Board investigation that determined the door plug was improperly installed. The company also acknowledged that, in an interview with CNBC, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun publicly described the incident as “our mistake.”
But Boeing denied liability for any damages alleged by the passengers, saying their lawsuit should be dismissed. The company also contended it cannot be held responsible for any injuries that may have resulted because its products were “improperly maintained, or misused by persons and/or entities other than Boeing.”
Likewise, Alaska Airlines denied liability, claiming that any injuries stemming from the door plug blowout “were caused by the fault of persons or entities over whom Alaska Airlines has no control … including Defendant The Boeing Company and/or non-party Spirit AeroSystems.”
Alaska Airlines also denied that the activation of the plane’s cabin-pressure warning light three times within the previous month — including on the day before the door incident — was related or meant that the plane was unsafe to fly.
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