US Federal Aviation Administration orders temporary grounding of certain airplanes

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced Saturday it would order the temporary grounding of certain Boeing 737 MAX 9 airplanes operated by US airlines or in American territory.

The FAA requires immediate inspections of certain planes before they can return to flight, it wrote on X, adding that the order will affect approximately 171 airplanes worldwide.

The statement came one day after an Alaska Airlines flight was forced to perform an emergency landing following the loss of part of its fuselage. Reportedly, none of the nearly 180 passengers or crew was harmed.

The Emergency Airworthiness Directive (EAD) will require operators to inspect aircraft before further flight that do not meet the inspection cycles, it said.

Required inspections will take four to eight hours per aircraft, the statement added.