Alaska Airlines has grounded dozens of its Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft for safety inspections following an in-flight explosion in the cabin that forced a new passenger-laden aircraft to make an emergency landing. A part of the left side of the aircraft was removed after taking off from Portland, Oregon, on its way to Ontario, California, yesterday, compelling the pilots to return and land safely. The flight carried 171 passengers and a crew of six.
The cause of this apparent structural failure is still unclear, and there have been no reports of injuries. Alaska Airlines' CEO, Ben Minicucci, stated in a release that the company's fleet of 65 Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft would not return to service until maintenance and precautionary safety checks were completed, anticipated to conclude in "the coming days."
On Saturday, the company announced that more than a quarter of the inspections had been completed without finding any issues. FlightRadar24 indicated that several aircraft are still in operation. The National Transportation Safety Board reported that a team of aircraft structure and system specialists would arrive at the incident site later on Saturday to initiate an investigation.
Boeing stated that it is working to gather more information and is in contact with the airline. Photos taken by passengers show a missing section of the aircraft’s fuselage, which is sometimes used as an emergency exit door in the middle of the cabin, leaving a door-shaped gap.
Typically, low-cost airlines install an additional door to accommodate more seats, necessitating more evacuation pathways. However, these doors are permanently blocked off in certain planes, including those operated by Alaska Airlines. The aircraft had only been in service for eight weeks. Reports indicated that the seat adjacent to the missing fuselage section, which had a regular window, was unoccupied.
The Boeing 737 Max aircraft were grounded for 20 months worldwide following two fatal incidents in 2018 and 2019, which resulted in the deaths of 346 people in Ethiopia and Indonesia.
