(NEWSnet/AP) – Alaska Airlines says Boeing has paid $160 million in “initial compensation” for a door panel that blew out during flight off an Alaska Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliner in January.

The airline said Thursday that it expects additional compensation, the terms of which it said are confidential. The details were included in a regulatory filing by Alaska.

The payment covered Alaska’s pretax loss related to the accident, including lost revenue and the cost of returning its Max 9 fleet to service after the planes were grounded for three weeks.

Boeing declined to comment on the filing.

A panel that plugs a gap left for an extra emergency exit blew off an Alaska Max 9 as it flew 16,000 feet over Oregon on Jan. 5. Pilots were able to land safely, and no one was injured.

Alaska quickly grounded its other Max 9s, and the Federal Aviation Administration followed by grounding all Max 9s in the United States – affecting Alaska and United Airlines.

The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating, and the Justice Department is examining whether the incident violated terms of a settlement that Boeing reached in 2021 to avoid criminal prosecution for allegedly misleading regulators who certified Max jets for flights.

In the meantime, United is asking pilots to take unpaid time off next month – a plea that the airline said could extend into the fall – because of delays in getting new planes that it ordered from Boeing.

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