Alaska Airlines (AS, Seattle Tacoma International) has ordered an additional B737-10 after selling the B737-9 involved in the January 2024 mid-air door blowout back to Boeing.

“We have entered into a purchase agreement with Boeing for aircraft N704AL (msn 67501). They have taken possession of it and the registration has been changed. It is no longer part of our fleet. Additionally, we have placed an order for a new B737-10,” the airline confirmed to ch-aviation.

Alaska Airlines currently has forty-five B737-10s on firm order from the manufacturer. The ch-aviation fleets module shows that the orders were placed in 2021 and 2022. It also has firm orders for twenty B737-8s (of which it has taken four so far) and eighty-two B737-9s. Alaska Airlines has taken seventy -9s so far, although after the return of the one involved in the January incident, it remains with 69 of the type.

N704AL has remained parked at Portland International since the incident.

Meanwhile, Boeing is facing new legal problems as the United States Department of Justice advances its investigation of the January 5 incident.

The DOJ is probing whether the manufacturer’s actions violated its 2021 deferred prosecution agreement covering the B737 MAX‘s safety record. Reuters reports the US government is now planning to criminally charge Boeing for conspiring to defraud the FAA, but the DOJ had offered a plea bargain, wherein Boeing would plead guilty in return for a USD487.2 million financial penalty (half of which will be credited through previous settlement payments) and the appointment of an independent safety compliance monitor for three years. This would also allow the manufacturer to avoid a public trial.

Recently, the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) sanctioned the carrier for a “blatant” violation of its rules by disclosing confidential information of the N704AL incident during a media briefing.

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