Alaska Air Group

In February last year, a new Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 Max plane was on one of its first flights when an automated stabilizing system appeared to malfunction, forcing the pilots to make an emergency landing soon after they took off.

Boeing came under renewed pressure on Jan. 23 as the head of Alaska Airlines said inspections carried out after a dangerous incident had found many loose bolts on its 737 MAX 9 aircraft.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has recommended that airlines inspect door plugs on Boeing 737-900ER jets after a blowout on another type of aircraft with a similar mid-cabin exit earlier this month.

United and Alaska Airlines both reported on Monday that loose hardware had been discovered on some of their Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes during preliminary inspections after a dramatic mid-flight incident last week.

The U.S. air safety regulator said Saturday that it was grounding some Boeing 737 MAX 9 jets pending inspections, a day after a panel blew out of one of the planes over the western state of Oregon.

The Federal Aviation Administration "is requiring immediate inspections of certain Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes before they can return to flight," the agency said on X.

Boeing reported record commercial plane deliveries for 2017 on Jan. 9 and said cargo and customer passenger trends continued to look strong for 2018.     

Alaska Airlines parent company Alaska Air Group said on April 4 it was acquiring Virgin America in a friendly takeover worth around $4 billion including debt to create the U.S.'s fifth-largest airline.

A definitive merger agreement had been unanimously approved by the boards of both companies, it said in a statement.