Key bolts were missing from Boeing Alaska Airlines plane door, initial investigation finds
Four key bolts were missing from the door that blew off an Alaska Airlines plane in mid-air, according to a preliminary report from a US regulator.
The door panel, known as a plug, had been removed to fix rivets damaged in production, the initial report said.
Those bolts were removed at a Boeing factory in Washington and appear not to have been replaced, it said.
Text messages sent between employees at the plane maker show discussion of interior restoration after the rivet rework and attached a photo which formed part of the probe.
There was no evidence the door was opened again after it left the Boeing factory, the report added, increasing pressure on one of the world’s two biggest plane makers.
The investigation was commenced by the investigative agency National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in early January after a mid-flight blowout where the door flew off a Boeing 737 MAX 9 Alaska Airlines aircraft.
The door plug is held down by four bolts and secured by stop fittings at 12 different locations along the side of the plug and door frame.
The NTSB said in January that all 12 stop fittings disengaged during the flight.
“The investigation continues to determine what manufacturing documents were used to authorize the opening and closing” of the plug during the rivet rework,” the report said.
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Records from September showed five rivets were damaged on the frame of the door plug.
Boeing president and chief executive Dave Calhoun said on Tuesday: “Whatever final conclusions are reached, Boeing is accountable for what happened. An event like this must not happen on an airplane that leaves our factory.”
The manufacturer added it “implemented a control plan to ensure all 737-9 mid-exit door plugs are installed according to specifications.”
The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) temporarily grounded all 171 of the MAX 9 jets and placed an unprecedented ban on raising production volumes within the entire 737 MAX fleet of aircraft.
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Boeing CEO: ‘We fly safe planes’
Thousands of flights were cancelled by Alaska Airlines and United Airlines, users of the Boeing 737 MAX 9, as a result of the grounding order, which was lifted on 24 January.
Both Alaska Air and United Airlines said in the days after the blowout they had found loose parts on multiple grounded MAX 9 aircraft.
The FAA said 94% of the jets have returned to service.
The regulator indefinitely limited Boeing’s ambitious MAX plans production, raising questions about the company’s manufacturing future.
The current safety system isn’t working, FAA head Mike Whitaker told the US politicians of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on Tuesday.
“I certainly agree that the current system is not working, because it’s not delivering safe aircraft.”
The UK economy showed strong growth in the first three months of the year, according to official figures.
Gross domestic product (GDP) – the standard measure of an economy’s value – grew 0.7% in the first quarter of 2025, the Office for National Statistics said.
The rise is better than expected. An increase of just 0.6% was anticipated by economists polled by the Reuters news agency.
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It’s significantly better than the three months previous, in which a slight economic expansion of just 0.1% was reported for the final quarter of 2024.
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The ONS also said there was a small amount of growth last month, as GDP expanded 0.2% in March, which similarly beat expectations.
No growth at all had been forecast for the month.
How did the economy grow?
A large contribution to high GDP growth was an increase in output in the production sector, which rose 1.1%, driven by manufacturing and a 4% increase in water supply, the ONS said.
Also working to push up the GDP figure was 0.7% growth in the biggest part of the UK economy – the services industry.
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‘Here’s the concern with GDP figures’
Wholesale, retail and computer programming services all performed well in the quarter, as did car leasing and advertising, the ONS said.
It shows the economy was resilient, as the country headed into the global trade war sparked by President Trump’s so-called ‘liberation day’ tariff announcement on 2 April.
Welcome political news, for now
The data is welcome news for a government who have identified growing the economy as its number one priority.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is taking the figures as a political win, saying the UK economy has grown faster than the US, Canada, France, Italy and Germany.
“Today’s growth figures show the strength and potential of the UK economy, ” she said.
“Up against a backdrop of global uncertainty, we are making the right choices now in the national interest.”
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Such GDP numbers may not continue into April as businesses and consumers were hit with a raft of bill rises, and Mr Trump’s tariffs fired the starting gun on a global trade war.
Last month, water, energy and council tax bills rose across the country while employers faced higher wage costs from the rise in their national insurance contributions and the minimum wage.
But above-inflation wage growth and fading consumer caution could continue to boost the economy.
Foreign state investors would be allowed to hold stakes of up to 15% in British national newspapers, ministers are set to announce amid a two-year battle to resolve an impasse over The Daily Telegraph’s ownership.
Sky News has learnt that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport could announce as soon as Thursday that the new limit is to be imposed following a consultation lasting several months.
The decision to set the ownership threshold at 15% follows an intensive lobbying campaign by newspaper industry executives concerned that a permanent outright ban could cut off a vital source of funding to an already-embattled industry.
It would mean that RedBird IMI, the Abu Dhabi state-backed fund which owns an option to take full ownership of the Telegraph titles, would be able to play a role in the newspapers’ future.
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RedBird Capital, the US-based fund, has already said it is exploring the possibility of taking full control of the Telegraph, while IMI would have – if the status quo had been maintained – forced to relinquish any involvement in the right-leaning broadsheets.
One industry source said they had been told to expect a statement from Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, or another DCMS minister, this week, with the amendment potentially being made in the form of a statutory instrument.
Other than RedBird, a number of suitors for the Telegraph have expressed interest but struggled to raise the funding for a deal.
The most notable of these has been Dovid Efune, owner of The New York Sun, who has been trying for months to raise the £550m sought by RedBird IMI to recoup its outlay.
Another potential offer from Todd Boehly, the Chelsea Football Club co-owner, and media tycoon David Montgomery, has yet to materialise.
RedBird IMI paid £600m in 2023 to acquire a call option that was intended to convert into ownership of the Telegraph newspapers and The Spectator magazine.
That objective was thwarted by a change in media ownership laws – which banned any form of foreign state ownership – amid an outcry from parliamentarians.
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The Spectator was then sold last year for £100m to Sir Paul Marshall, the hedge fund billionaire, who has installed Lord Gove, the former cabinet minister, as its editor.
The UAE-based IMI, which is controlled by the UAE’s deputy prime minister and ultimate owner of Manchester City Football Club, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, extended a further £600m to the Barclays to pay off a loan owed to Lloyds Banking Group, with the balance secured against other family-controlled assets.
Other bidders for the Telegraph had included Lord Saatchi, the former advertising mogul, who offered £350m, while Lord Rothermere, the Daily Mail proprietor, pulled out of the bidding last summer amid concerns that he would be blocked on competition grounds.
The Telegraph’s ownership had been left in limbo by a decision taken by Lloyds Banking Group, the principal lender to the Barclay family, to force some of the newspapers’ related corporate entities into a form of insolvency proceedings.
The newspaper auction is being run by Raine Group and Robey Warshaw.
The DCMS declined to comment.
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