Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX-9 makes emergency landing at Portland after losing emergency exit door

On Friday 5 January 2024 an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX-9 passenger aircraft made a successful emergency landing at Portland International Airport after the aircraft lost an emergency exit door shortly after takeoff.

The aircraft, Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX-9 N704AL was operating flight AS1282 from Portland International Airport (PDX) in Oregon, USA to Ontario International Airport (ONT) near Los Angeles, California, USA.

Few moments after takeoff, at an altitude of about FL160 an emergency exit door and a large window panel separated from the aircraft. A rapid cabin decompression occured, oxygen masks deployed and the aircraft immediately returned back to Portland International Airport where it made a successful emergency landing about twenty minutes after takeoff.

First reports after the incident indicate that none of the 171 passengers and 6 crew members received any injury during the incident.

The emergency exit door that separated from the aircraft is not used by Alaska Airlines as the airline operates its fleet of Boeing 737 MAX-9 aircraft in a lower seat density. The cabin interior does not even reveal the emergency exit door as the interior window panel is identical to any other window panel inside the aircraft.

Boeing 737 MAX-9 N704AL is a brand new aircraft: it made its first flight on 15 October 2023 and was delivered to Alaska Airlines on 31 October 2023 according to planespotters.net.

In a statement after the incident, Alaska Airlines said that it will temporarily ground its fleet of 65 Boeing 737 MAX-9 aircraft and will do a full maintenance and safety inspection of every aircraft before they will be returned to service.

6 January 2024

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