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| United Airlines said it resumed flying its Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft on January 27 after receiving the green light from regulators. (Source: FAA) |
United Airlines announced that the first Boeing 737 MAX 9 flight after January 6 departed from Newark to Las Vegas at about 10:30 a.m. local time (15:30 GMT) carrying 175 passengers and 6 crew members.
The rare January 5 door explosion on a Boeing 737 MAX 9 that was only used for 8 weeks forced the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to suspend the operation of a total of 171 Boeing 737 MAX 9s, leading to the cancellation of thousands of flights by Alaska Airlines and other airlines.
The FAA lifted the grounding order on January 24 after accepting the results of inspections and maintenance, and said Boeing cannot expand 737 MAX production or add production lines while quality is improved. The thorough maintenance process for the Boeing 737 MAX 9 includes inspections of bolts, guide rails and fittings, along with detailed inspections of the emergency exit latches between the cabin and dozens of related parts.
Alaska Airlines had previously resumed passenger service on the aircraft on January 26. Alaska Airlines said it expected inspections of all its Boeing MAX 9 aircraft to be completed by the end of next week. The grounding of the Boeing MAX 9 aircraft affects 20% of the airline's fleet.
Meanwhile, Boeing Commercial Airplanes President Stan Deal said that the company's employees have been working hard to develop testing criteria to return the aircraft to service and that Boeing is currently evaluating hundreds of employee ideas to improve product quality.
(according to VNA)
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