United Airlines blames Boeing blowout case for $200mn hit in earnings

United Airlines said that Boeing was responsible for a $200 million (£161mn) hit to its earnings in the initial three months of the year.

For three weeks, the carrier had to ground its Boeing 737 MAX 9 fleet after its door blew out mid-air on an Alaska Airlines flight in January.

United Airlines said that the incident pushed them into a pre-tax loss of $164mn for the first quarter. The airline stated that it "would have reported a quarterly profit" otherwise.

However, the loss was less than what was expected by Wall Street and the shares of United Airlines increased by more than 5 per cent after the announcement.

There are 79 Boeing 737 MAX 9s in the fleet of United Airlines, which is more than any of its rivals.

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Thousands of flights were cancelled by United Airlines and Alaska Airlines as inspections were carried out in January before the planes resumed clearance from the US aviation regulator to resume flying.

Boeing's unending troubles

Boeing, earlier this month, paid $160 million to Alaska to cover the losses of the airline. Speaking to investigators, United Airlines said that its operations also faced an impact because of delays in deliveries of Boeing planes.

"We've adjusted our fleet plan to better reflect the reality of what the manufacturers are able to deliver," said United's chief executive Scott Kirby, in a statement.

Recently, Boeingfaced pressure after safety concerns regarding the manufacturing of the jets were reported by a whistleblower to US regulators.

Boeing has been accused by engineer Sam Salehpour of taking shortcuts in the making of its 787 and 777 jets.

Salehpour stated that he was "threatened with termination" after he raised similar concerns with senior officials.

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However, Boeing stated that the allegations were "inaccurate" and that it was confident its planes were safe. Salehpour will be the key witness at a US Senate hearing to be held on April 17.

On January 5, an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9's door plug blew off shortly aftertake-off which left the passengers terrified and forced an emergency landing at the Portland, Oregon airport.

This incident raised major concerns regarding the safety of Boeing's aircraft. The company came under intense scrutiny after 737 Max 8 passenger jets' two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019, in which346 people were killed.

(With inputs from agencies)