March 28 Reuters Alaska Air Group said on Thursday the lost capacity from the temporary grounding of its Boeing 737 Max 9 fleet may cause the company39;s longterm profit growth to be below its target range of 4 to 8.

Earlier this month, Alaska Air forecast firstquarter adjusted loss per share of 55 cents to 45 cents per share, compared with analysts39; estimates for a loss of 1.18 per share, according to LSEG data.

The firstquarter forecast reflects an unspecified partial compensation the carrier received from Boeing following a midair blowout of a door plug panel in January and a 30 centpershare impact from the temporary grounding of MAX 9 jets after the incident, Alaska Air said earlier.

The airline had also said its fullyear capacity expectations were still in a flux due to uncertainty surrounding aircraft delivery timings stemming from increased Federal Aviation Administration and Department of Justice scrutiny of Boeing and its operations.

Reporting by Aishwarya Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath

Source Reuters