By Will Feuer


Alaska Air Group has received a $160 million payment from plane-maker Boeing for the initial compensation to make up for lost profits due to the mid-air blowout of a door plug on an Alaska flight in January.

Alaska said it lost some bookings after the January accident and the following grounding of its fleet of Boeing 737-9 Max jets.

Alaska said it expects further compensation from Boeing, but didn't provide more details.

However, the company cut its first-quarter loss forecast to reflect a change in how Alaska plans to treat the accounting of the Boeing compensation. The company said it won't recognize the Boeing compensation in its earnings and will instead treat it as a reduction to aircraft assets.

The company said it now expects to report a first-quarter adjusted loss of $1.15 a share to $1.05 a share, wider than the adjusted loss of 55 cents a share to 45 cents a share that the company had previously forecast.


Write to Will Feuer at Will.Feuer@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-04-24 0834ET