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ALASKA, UNITED AFFECTED
Alaska Airlines and United Airlines are the only US carriers using the MAX 9, according to aviation data provider Cirium.
Alaska cancelled 154 flights on Saturday, or 20 per cent of scheduled trips, while United cancelled 80 flights or 3 per cent of departures.
Alaska said earlier it had voluntarily grounded its fleet of 65 Boeing MAX 9 jets for checks. It said 18 planes were inspected during recent maintenance and are cleared for flight, while the remaining inspections are expected to take several days.
United said it suspended service on about 45 MAX 9s for inspections and expected 60 flight cancellations on Saturday.
Boeing is awaiting certification of its smaller MAX 7 and larger MAX 10 which are needed to compete with the competing Airbus A321neo model.
Boeing has suffered numerous production issues on the MAX planes in the years since the crashes. Last week, Boeing said it was urging airlines to inspect all 737 MAX aeroplanes for a possible loose bolt in the rudder control system.
Flight 1282 had reached just over 16,000 feet when the blowout happened, according to FlightRadar24. “We’d like to get down,” the pilot told air traffic control, according to a recording posted on liveatc.net.
“We are declaring an emergency. We do need to come down to 10,000,” the pilot added, referring to the initial staging altitude for such emergencies, below which breathing is considered possible for healthy people without extra oxygen.
“I can’t imagine what these passengers experienced,” said Anthony Brickhouse, an air safety expert at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. “The wind would be rushing through that cabin. It was a probably pretty violent situation, and definitely a scary situation.”
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency adopted the FAA MAX 9 directive but noted no EU member state airlines “currently operate an aircraft in the affected configuration”.
A British air safety regulator said it would require any 737 MAX 9 operator to comply with the FAA directive to enter its airspace.
Panamanian carrier Copa Airlines said it had temporarily grounded 21 737 MAX 9 aircraft and said it “expects to return these aircraft safely and reliably to the flight schedule within the next 24 hours”, and said some delays and cancellations are expected.
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