US gives green light for Boeing 737 MAX 9 to return to the sky

United Airlines said it resumed flying Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft on January 27 after receiving the green light from regulators, weeks after a door on an Alaska Airlines flight exploded mid-air earlier this month.

Mỹ 'bật đèn xanh' cho máy bay Boeing 737 MAX 9 trở lại bầu trời

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 around 10:30 a.m. local time (15:30 GMT) carrying 175 passengers and 6 crew members.

The rare door failure on January 5 of 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 it waits for quality improvements. 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 components.

Alaska Airlines previously resumed passenger service on the aircraft on January 26. Alaska Airlines said it expects to complete inspections of all of its Boeing MAX 9 aircraft by the end of next week. The grounding of the Boeing MAX 9 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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