Spokane Airport sees handful of flight cancellations as FAA grounds all Boeing 737 Max 9s

Travelers to and from Spokane were hit with delays after all Boeing 737 Max 9’s were grounded following a midair blowout of part of the plane’s fuselage on an Alaska Airlines flight originating in Portland Friday evening.

Alaska Airlines and United Airlines have canceled hundreds of flights across the country after the Federal Aviation Administration issued grounding orders on Saturday for the 171 Boeing 737 Max 9’s in service worldwide. Each aircraft must undergo an inspection before being cleared to return to service, and inspections could take four to eight hours, according to a news release issued by the FAA.

Half a dozen Alaska Airlines flights bound for Seattle from Spokane International Airport have been canceled since Friday, as have a handful of arrivals from Seattle and Los Angeles. Todd Woodard, Spokane International Airport’s director of marketing and public affairs, directed all questions regarding inspections and future cancellations to Alaska Airlines.

Alaska Airlines is awaiting approval of inspection processes by the FAA and has prepared each aircraft for their maintenance technicians in anticipation of that approval, according to a statement released Monday morning.

Kettle Falls residents Frank Reddeman and Kimberly Walker arrived in Spokane a few hours later than anticipated Monday afternoon, after their connecting flight through Seattle scheduled at 12:24 p.m. was canceled. Reddeman said the two were returning from a weeklong cruise and learned of the cancellation early this morning when they arrived at the airport in Houston.

“We were lucky enough to have gotten on standby for the next flight to Spokane, but it was not fun spending hours in the airport waiting,” Reddeman said. “We wanted to get back in time to beat the storm, with the drive and everything, and we’re really cutting it close here.”

The National Transportation Safety Board is continuing to investigate what caused the plug door, a seal used to cover an extra emergency exit that is not required on Alaska or United planes, to detach during the Alaska flight shortly after takeoff. The structural failure led to rapid depressurization in the plane, ripped the shirt off a teenager sitting nearby and forced the plane to return to Portland International Airport, as reported by the New York Times.

Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, said in a media briefing Sunday evening that the door was found in the backyard of a Portland-area school teacher. Two cell phones believed to have fallen from the plane also were found, Homendy said.

The investigation is expected to take weeks to wrap up, and will include inquiries into the installation and inspection of the door plug, as well as whether Alaska Airlines appropriately responded to reported pressurization issues with the affected aircraft. Pressurization warnings were set off aboard the plane during three recent flights, and the plane was put back into service after airline workers reset the system, Homendy said. Alaska Airlines had placed restrictions on flights to destinations like Hawaii, The New York Times reported.

United Airlines officials said Monday afternoon that they identified some loose bolts on door plugs on its Max 9 planes during preliminary inspections that began over the weekend. Like Alaska Airlines, the company said required inspections will begin after the FAA approves and outlines the process.

Coeur d’Alene resident Laurie Sobral, who departed Spokane for Honolulu via Seattle aboard an Alaska Airlines flight Monday afternoon, said she was not too worried about the safety of her flights following the incident. She said she heard the news of the structural failure on a local newscast that morning, and promptly turned the TV off afterward.

“I just couldn’t do that to myself,” Sobral said. “I didn’t want to see it again before my husband and I headed out for our vacation.”

More cancellations are expected nationwide in the days to come.