Flooded cabin forces Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 to turn back for Hawaii

An Alaska Airlines plane made a diversion back to Honolulu Airport after reports of a flooded cabin. Photo / AP

An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 jet was forced to turn around after a malfunctioning bathroom sink flooded the cabin mid-flight.

The flight took off from Honolulu to Anchorage, Alaska, at 10.16 pm last Friday, and had been airborne for about 90 minutes when the issue occurred. Between 5cm and 10cm of water flooded the cabin, spilling down the aisle after a bathroom door was opened.

In a video of the event, shared to Facebook by passenger Dustin Parker, the crew attempted to contain the water by using paper towels to mop the plane’s floor.

As the flood quickly became unmanageable, the water spread down the centre aisle from front to back. Later, the crew used in-flight blankets to dry the centre aisle.

Eventually, the captain of Alaska Airlines Flight 828 decided to turn around for Daniel K Inouye International Airport, landing two hours and 18 minutes after it first took off.

The six-hour flight had to be cancelled due to the lack of an available replacement. Affected passengers were promptly rescheduled on alternative flights.

Alaska Airlines issued a statement to Fox Business, apologising for the situation, “We apologise to our guests for the inconvenience this caused and commend the crew for their actions to ensure the wellbeing and comfort of our guests.”

The door plug from Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 blew off minutes after takeoff. Photo / Twitter

Alaska Airlines and Boeing have both been under fire lately after the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 Boeing 737 Max blowout last January. A door plug blew off the jetliner shortly after the Alaska Airlines flight departed from Oregon to California.

Boeing has faced criticism due to the numerous incidents in the past few months. Because of these technical and crucial incidents, the quality and safety of Boeing planes are constantly under scrutiny.

President of Boeing’s commercial plane division, Stan Deal, has addressed the latest manufacturing concerns and promises to take extra precautionary actions to ensure improvement for public safety.