The “preventable incident” endangered scores of lives both on the plane itself and others flying Max 9 aircraft, the suit alleges.
Three passengers are suing Boeing and Alaska Airlines for $1 billion in damages in the wake of a door panel blowing out midair on their flight.
The suit, announced Feb. 23, accuses Boeing and Alaska Airlines of negligence for allegedly having ignored warning signs that could have prevented the Jan. 5 incident, which forced the plane pilots to make an emergency landing.
“This experience jeopardized the lives of the 174 passengers and six crew members that were on board,” a release announcing the suit states. “For those reasons, the lawsuit seeks substantial punitive damages … for what was a preventable incident.”
Deregulation, vastly more flights, and lower budgets.
Deregulation is easy to go read about but it had huge impacts on the airline industry and spawned the current race to the bottom.
In 1990 there were a little more than 18,000 flights per day in the US. In 2024 there are more than 45,000.
The FAA budget in 1990 was $2.5B which is $31B when adjusted for inflation. The current FAA budget is $20B.
So, the FAA has less authority, a budget that is 1/3 smaller, and is dealing with tripple the air traffic when compared to 1990.