I'm wondering how that works. This United -900 that tipped over landed in Lewiston, which I understand has a pretty short runway and the -900 requires much longer runways for takeoff if fully loaded. Some of the airports in Hawaii don't have long runways, like OGG and LIH. I looked up some of the routes like SEA-LIH and Alaska uses the -800.
They most likely could use shorter Lewiston runways because they wouldn’t have had much of a fuel load coming from/going to LAX. Fuel load affects the 737-900 massively.
The times I’ve had “issues” with runway length in the 737-900 it’s almost always a transcon flight with close to max fuel. Or higher fuel loads (~35,000 - 40,000 lbs) , plus temps above 100F and/or higher airport elevation (roughly 2,000’+ MSL).
I’m not too knowledgeable on flights to Hawaii among the various airlines, but browsing FlightRadar24, the 737-900 is fairly rare. Tons more -800s, MAX 8s and MAX 9s which all have better range and performance than the 737-900.
I am a bit amazed Alaska Airlines does SEA - Hawaii with the -900. That’s >2,300 NM. My guess is the low airport elevations help departure performance out of there, plus Kona has 11,000’ of runway, which is pretty good, especially for a sea level airport. Either way, I wouldn’t be surprised if they even weight limit (reduce passenger/cargo loads) on those flights when the winds are unfavorable - that’s just a guess though.
I’d imagine those Alaska Air 737-900 flights to/from SEA are also done with Full Thrust, “Engine Bleed” air off and Zero tailwind component allowed. On normal takeoffs, the engines will supply the “bleed air” to pressurize the cabin. But, by tapping high pressure air from the engine compressor section, you lose a bit of performance. One way (usually the last option) to gain a bit extra power for takeoff is to shut off the engine bleed air valves, and leave the APU running for takeoff. You then let the APU bleed air pressurize the cabin for the first few thousand feet of climb. Then you switch the bleed air source back over to the engines and shut the APU off for the rest of the flight.
I see “Engine Bleeds Off” required once every 6 months or so. It’s pretty uncommon, and a bit of an extra hassle. You’re reading a separate checklist on your iPad while you’re doing all your other tasks before and after takeoff.