Alaska Airlines Incident: Boeing CEO Calls All-Employee Safety Meeting, Cancels Annual Leadership Retreat

Following the incident where an Alaska Airlines plane had to make an emergency landing shortly after takeoff due to a depressurization event after a window and part of the fuselage was ripped off the plane, Boeing’s CEO put all employees on high alert over the accident.

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun sent a company-wide email to his employees on Sunday regarding Flight 1282, which didn’t make it far from Portland, Oregon's airport on Friday before a part of its fuselage was ripped off thousands of feet in the air. Calhoun called for an all-employee safety meeting and reportedly canceled an annual leadership retreat.

"When serious accidents like this occur, it is critical for us to work transparently with our customers and regulators to understand and address the causes of the event, and to ensure they don’t happen again,” Calhoun wrote in the email, shared by reporter Dominic Gates via social media. “This is and must be the focus of our team right now.”

The planned safety webcast that Calhoun is calling for is set for Tuesday. Employees will join Calhoun to talk about Boeing’s response to the accident and will also talk about reinforcing their company’s focus on “safety, quality, integrity and transparency,” the email says.

An official with the National Transportation Safety Board called what happened to Friday’s Flight 1282 an “accident” that could have been “so much more tragic.” NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy explained that the plane lost a “mid-cabin door plug,” which covers a non-operational emergency door and looks like a window to passengers. 

That resulted in “rapid decompression” of the plane’s cabin, but thankfully no one was seated next to the plug when it fell off and only minor injuries were reported. Still, Homendy acknowledged the trauma of the accident.

"I imagine this was a pretty terrifying event," she said. "We don't often talk about psychological injury, but I'm sure that occurred here. So on behalf of the National Transportation Safety Board, I would like to extend our deepest sympathies to those who experienced what I imagined was truly terrifying."

Alaska Airlines has grounded dozens of its Boeing 737 planes following the accident, and the Federal Aviation Administration on Saturday ordered the temporary grounding of 171 Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft. United Airlines also flies the 737 Max 9 in the U.S. and said Saturday that 33 of its 79 Max aircraft had already been inspected.

Significant travel delays and cancellations are expected due to the groundings. On Sunday, Alaska Airlines canceled 170 flights, saying it expects "additional significant cancellations through the first half of the week.”
Boeing has already apologized for the accident and has promised to comply with the NTSB’s investigation into the incident.

"Safety is our top priority, and we deeply regret the impact this event has had on our customers and their passengers," Boeing said in its apology statement. "We agree with and fully support the FAA's decision to require immediate inspections of 737-9 airplanes with the same configuration as the affected airplane. In addition, a Boeing technical team is supporting the NTSB's investigation into [Friday] night's event."