Boeing 737: Alaska Airlines flight carrying pets lands at airport with cargo door open - adding to safety concerns

An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 plane carrying pets was found with an open cargo door as it landed in Portland. When the flight had landed on 1 March from Los Cabos in Mexico, it was noticed that the door was slightly ajar.

It's unclear how long it was open for and there were no reports of any missing or injured pets. There was no indication that the door wasn't fully closed during the flight, which crew say could point to the door opening after its landing. 

A statement from Alaska Airlines read: “Upon landing at PDX on March 1, Alaska Airlines flight 1437 was discovered to have the forward cargo door unsealed. There was no indication to the crew that the door was unsealed during flight and all indications point to the door partially opening after landing. Our maintenance teams inspected the aircraft, replaced a spring in the door, tested the door, and re-entered it into service."

It comes as Boeing is under scrutiny over the safety of its aircraft. At least 50 people have been injured and 13 are in hospital after a Boeing 787 flight from Sydney to Auckland suffered a "technical" problem mid-air. The aircraft experienced a “strong movement” that reportedly saw passengers suddenly thrown about the plane. 

It follows an incident on 5 January which saw a window blow out of an Alaska Airlines flight shortly after it took off, prompting the grounding of Boeing 737 Max 9 planes. The aircraft are now back in service, but a former quality manager at Boeing warned that 737 planes are back up in the air too soon. John Barnett told TMZ Live that he is “concerned” about the aircraft being back in service as the door plug blowout incident was due to “jobs not being completed properly”. 

Mr Barnett told TMZ that “they have done due diligence and inspections to ensure that the door plugs on the 737 are installed properly” but “my concern is what about the rest of the aeroplane?”. He added that he has these concerns because “inspection steps have been removed” and issues are “being ignored”. 

NationalWorld has contacted Boeing for comment on the incident that occurred on 1 March.