Alaska’s operational hit from Max grounding seen akin to a storm

For all the negative attention that Alaska Airlines has received, grounding its 737 Max 9 jets may have little more impact to the carrier’s operations than a bad winter storm. Alaska had canceled 163 flights as of Sunday afternoon, or 21% of its total schedule, according to the tracking website FlightAware.com. The Federal Aviation Administration ordered Boeing Co.’s 737 Max 9 jets to be grounded for inspection after a fuselage section on a brand new Alaska Airlines jet blew out during flight. The carrier expects flights to be affected through at least midweek. “I’d look at it as a really bad winter storm for operational impact,” said Savanthi Syth, a Raymond James analyst. By comparison, Delta canceled about 20% of its flights for three days during a December 2022 winter storm, Syth said. The effect will be somewhat muted by a lull in travel following the winter holidays, Syth said. “We’re heading into a kind of fairly quiet period of travel, and usually business travel doesn’t start back up until mid-January,” she said. The FAA said Sunday that the Max 9 will remain grounded until the agency is satisfied that the jets are safe. Alaska Air Group Inc. said in an emailed statement that the incident won’t affect its pending $1.9b acquisition of Hawaiian Holdings Inc.<br/>