The US regulator Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has grounded 171 Boeing 737 Max 9 airliners following a fuselage failure on an Alaska Airlines flight resulted in an explosive decompression.
An entire window section blew out on the Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 yesterday causing the decompression and emergency landing.
Alaska Airlines had already grounded all of its Boeing 737 Max 9s pending an investigation but now the FAA has ordered the grounding of more aircraft with other operators.
In a statement the FAA said it was ordering “the temporary grounding of certain Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft operated by US airlines or in US territory”
The area where the blow out occurred is believed to be one of the rear emergency exit sections on the left side of the aircraft.
This is the latest in a series of blows to the popular single-aisle airliner having previously being grounded for almost two-years following two fatal accidents involving 737 Max airliners.