Boeing 737 Max 9: Ryanair issues statement on its use of Max 8 planes after Alaska Airlines mid-flight blowout

Ryanair has issued a statement due to its use of Boeing 737 planes following the Alaska Airlines incident which saw a window blowout minutes after the aircraft took off from Portland, Oregon. The incident which occurred on Friday (5 January) involved a Boeing 737 Max 9 plane.

A window blew out with one passenger describing that the gap was "as wide as a refrigerator" while another said a child's shirt was ripped off in the wind. The plane had to make an emergency landing. 

Irish budget airline Ryanair currently operates Boeing’s 737 MAX 8 aircraft. In May last year it announced it had ordered 300 new Boeing 737-MAX-10 aircraft for delivery between 2027 to 2033. In December it announced it had to cut its winter flight schedule due to delays in the delivery of new Boeing 737 planes. The delays were attributed to production delays combined with Boeing hold-ups in repairs and deliveries in Seattle, Washington.

The Boeing 737’s have now come under scrutiny following the incident on Friday and the safety of Ryanair’s use of Boeing 737 planes is being spotlighted. The Boeing 737 MAX Series was announced in 2011 and was introduced in May 2017. A Max 8 jet operated by Lion Air crashed in Indonesia in 2018, and an Ethiopian Airlines Max 8 crashed in 2019. Regulators around the world grounded the planes for nearly two years while Boeing changed an automated flight control system implicated in the crashes.

After the crashes airlines paused buying the Max but soon resumed again. However, the plane has been plagued by problems. Last year, The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) told pilots to limit use of an anti-ice system on the Max in dry conditions because of concern that inlets around the engines could overheat and break away, possibly striking the plane. 

When asked about the safety of the Boeing 737 planes and the airline’s use of them, Ryanair told NationalWorld: “Ryanair notes the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX 9 series aircraft. Ryanair has no MAX 9 aircraft in service or on order.

“The issue which affected the Alaska aircraft does not apply to the MAX 8 aircraft, which Ryanair operates or the MAX 10’s which Ryanair have on order. Ryanair does not expect the MAX9 grounding to have any impact on either the MAX 8 or the MAX 10 aircraft.”

The FAA has ordered the grounding of the fleet of Boeing 737 Max 9 planes until the regulator is satisfied they are safe. A US official has revealed that a warning light came on in the days leading up to the Alaska Airlines incident. At the time of the incident the plane had been restricted from making flights to Hawaii, after a warning light that could have indicated a pressurisation problem lit up on three different flights.

The warning light had come on during three previous flights on 7 December, 3 and 4 January. Jennifer Homendy, chair of the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), said she did not have all the details regarding the 7 December but specified the light came on during a flight on 3 and 4 January after the plane had landed. Ms Homendy said Alaska Airlines decided to restrict the aircraft from long flights over water so the plane "could return very quickly to an airport" if the warning light reappeared. She added that the pressurisation light could be unrelated to the incident that occurred on Friday (5 January).