The Alaska Airlines Incident: Boeing 737-9 Silvia Frade Sosa1 Diego Olmedo de Cáceres2 1. Regulatory framework and competent organizations in airworthiness matters. 2. Boeing incidents in recent years: from the Boeing 737-8 MAX to the 737-9 MAX. 3. Conclusions. On 5th January 2024, the aviation industry was rocked by an incident involving an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-9 MAX. The aircraft, which was flying the PDX-ONT route on flight AS-1282, had to make an emergency landing when the cabin depressurized as a result of a fuselage part coming loose. This event, which has been making headlines in the international press for weeks, has reignited concerns about this model, raising important questions related to safety and the responsibility of the parties involved in its manufacture. The U.S. civil aviation authority, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), initiated an investigation to clarify the cause of the event, issuing an Emergency Airworthiness Directive (EAD)3 , in which it ordered the inspection of a total of 171 Boeing 737-9 MAX and prohibited their operation until the completion of the investigation process. For its part, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) adopted this Directive, despite the fact that no airline in any Member State operates aircraft with the specific configuration achieved by the EAD and, therefore, no 737-9 MAX aircraft operating in Europe have been grounded4. Given the importance of this incident for the aviation industry we address some of its implications and briefly outline the certification processes to which aircraft are subjected, with particular reference to the two main Western civil aviation authorities (EASA and the FAA)5. DOI 10.60559/0th8-da11 1 PionAirLaw. 2. PionAirLaw. 3 For better reference, we refer to the Emergency Airworthiness Directive, published on 6th January 2024, and the updates published by the FAA. 4 For further reference, we refer to the updates published by EASA. 5 This text is not intended to be, nor does it constitute, an exhaustive study of the aeronautical regulations existing in all countries, referring, for the sake of brevity and mainly, to the European regulations.
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