US grounds 171 Boeings after hole rips open passenger plane mid-air
The US has ordered the grounding of 171 Boeing 737 Max 9 jets after part of an Alaska Airlines plane fell off.
The flight had to make an emergency landing shortly after take-off from Portland, Oregon, on Friday.
The flight, carrying 177 passengers and crew, landed safely back in Portland.
There has been no immediate indications of the cause of the apparent structural failure, nor any reports of injuries.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it would ‘order the temporary grounding of certain Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft operated by US airlines or in US territory’.
It said required inspections will take around four to eight hours per aircraft.
United Airlines confirmed it has carried out the inspections required by the FAA on some of its 79 Boeing 737 Max 9 planes.
The removal of the aircrafts is expected to cause about 60 cancellations on Saturday, United Airlines said.
Alaska Airlines’ CEO Ben Minicucci announced the initial grounding of 65 planes.
He said: ‘Each aircraft will be returned to service only after completion of full maintenance and safety inspections.’
More than a quarter of those planes had been inspected and would return to service as there were no issues found, the airline said in a later statement.
Boeing said in a statement: ‘Safety is our top priority and we deeply regret the impact this event has had on our customers and their passengers.’
It will now co-operate with the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation of the Alaska Airlines incident.
The Max is the newest version of Boeing’s 737, a twin-engine, single-aisle plane frequently used on US domestic flights. The plane went into service in May 2017.
Two Max 8 jets crashed in Asia and Africa in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people and leading to a near two-year worldwide grounding of all Max 8 and Max 9 planes.
They returned to service only after Boeing made changes to an automated flight control system implicated in the crashes.
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