The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) temporarily grounded certain Boeing Max 737-9 aircraft operated by domestic air carriers or in U.S. territory following an Alaska Airlines incident on January 5, in which a piece of the fuselage came off a plane after take-off from Portland, OR.
The plane turned around and made a safe emergency landing, according to multiple reports.
Boeing has since defended its record and has stated that their technical team is supporting the investigation into the Alaska Airlines incident.
Prior to the FAA's announcement, Alaska already had grounded its fleet of 65 Boeing Max 737-9 aircraft to begin full maintenance and safety inspection after the incident occurred.
As of January 17, service on the Boeing 737 Max 9s remained suspended, which could affect as many as 200 canceled United Airlines flights and 150 canceled Alaska Airlines flights per day. Both carriers have found loose bolts associated with the door plug.
United also noted it still is awaiting final approval from the FAA on the full inspection process. Both airlines have issued limited waivers for passengers to change their Max 9 scheduled flights or, in some cases, receive a refund.
According to United, the next step for conducting the FAA’s emergency airworthiness directive is for Boeing to issue a “multi-operator message.”
Boeing offered an initial version of instructions for inspections and maintenance. The company is now revising it based on the response and feedback received. The FAA will conduct a thorough review upon receiving the revised version of instructions from Boeing.
The FAA has completed the first 40 inspections of the Boeing Max 737-9 planes and will review the results. The FAA must inspect a total of 171 grounded planes before the agency contemplates any further steps in the process of returning the planes to service.
Several other airlines, not subject to the FAA's grounding directives, are taking precautions. Outside the United States, both Turkish Airlines (with five Max 9 aircraft in its fleet) and Panama-based Copa Airlines (with 21 Max 9s) grounded planes for inspection. Both airlines issued statements that they would complete inspections, but Copa expected delays and cancellations that are "beyond the airline's control.”
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