Faulty door plugs open old wounds at Boeing

NERVOUS TRAVELLERSMAXMAX will break out in a cold sweat to see pictures of a gaping hole in the fuselage of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 9, blown out at 15,000 feet (4,600 metres) after the plane had taken off over Oregon on January 5th. Nervous investors will have the same reaction to the share prices of Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems, a firm spun off by the planemaker in 2005. Spirit manufactured the fuselage and the failing part, a plug in the airframe where some 9 models can have an emergency exit. The two companies’ market value plunged by 8% and 11%, respectively, following the incident.Miraculously, no one was seriously injured; had the aircraft rapidly depressurised at a higher altitude the outcome could have been worse. The precise cause of the malfunction remains unclear. The plane, delivered to Alaska Airlines on November 11th, was brand-new. Similar unused emergency exits were installed on a previous version of the 737 without problems.