Pressure problem grounds flight

LOS ANGELES – An Alaska Airlines flight en route to Seattle landed at Los Angeles International Airport a few minutes after takeoff Wednesday because of cabin pressure problems, an airline official said.

No one was injured, and the 121 passengers who had left from Ontario International Airport were put on other flights to Seattle, said Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Amanda Tobin.

It was the second Alaska flight in two days to fail to reach its destination because of pressurization problems.

Flight 397 left Ontario International at 6:37 a.m. The MD-80 landed at Los Angeles International, about 35 miles away, at 7:16 a.m. after crew members noticed the pressurization problem.

“There was an indication that the cabin may have been pressurizing at a slower rate than expected,” said Tobin, who didn’t immediately have additional details.

On Tuesday, an Alaska flight returned to Portland International Airport after the cabin’s oxygen masks dropped 15 minutes into a flight to Denver.

Alaska Airlines has had three similar problems in the past two months. The incidents involved different types of aircraft, however, and Tobin said they appear to be unrelated.

Still, the Seattle-based airline has begun pressurization inspections of its entire fleet of 110 aircraft, Tobin said.