Four passengers aboard an Alaska Airlines flight when part of the plane's fuselage flew off midflight earlier this month are suing the airline as well as Boeing, the manufacturer of the plane.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in King County Superior Court in Seattle, and, according to the attorney for the plaintiffs, it is the first complaint filed against Alaska Airlines over the incident, The Seattle Times reported.
A plastic sheet covers an area of the fuselage of the Alaska Airlines N704AL Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft outside a hangar at Portland International Airport Jan. 8, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Last week, six passengers aboard the Jan. 5 flight filed a class-action lawsuit against Boeing for injuries and emotional trauma.
The door plug on the 737 Max 9 plane detached just minutes after Flight 1282 took off from Portland and reached 16,000 feet. The loss of the plug caused the cabin to depressurize, and a gaping hole sucked out cell phones and ripped a child's shirt off his body.
The plane returned safely to Portland with no serious injuries reported. The Max 9 involved in the incident had been restricted from long flights over water, such as to Hawaii, after Alaska reported pressurization alerts on prior flights.
Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 had been bound for Ontario, Calif., and experienced depressurization soon after departing, in Portland, Ore. (Reuters / Reuters Photos)
Days after the incident, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun acknowledged the company made a "mistake" and said it would work with the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the incident, to find out what caused it.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) temporarily grounded every Boeing 737 Max 9 with a plug door until it is ensured that "each can safely return to operation."
The Boeing logo hangs on the corporate world headquarters building of Boeing Nov. 28, 2006, in Chicago. (Scott Olson/Getty Images / Getty Images)
The FAA also notified Boeing that it was investigating the company "to determine if Boeing failed to ensure completed products conformed to its approved design and were in a condition for safe operation in compliance with FAA regulations," the agency said in a statement.
Boeing did not immediately respond to FOX Business's requests for comment regarding the lawsuit filed against the companies this week, and a spokesperson for Alaska Airlines said the airline does not comment on pending litigation.
FOX Business' Daniella Genovese contributed to this report.