The grounding of Boeing’s 737 Max 9 quickly gathered pace, with carriers from the US to Panama to Turkey pulling the model from service for inspections after a fuselage section on a brand-new Alaska Airlines jet blew out during flight.
After Alaska Air kept its fleet of 65 737 Max 9s on the ground following the incident on January 5, United Airlines Holdings, the model’s top operator, followed suit with some jets. Then the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a temporary grounding of 171 planes, accelerating the response among other airlines. Aeromexico took all of its Max 9s out of service, and Panama’s Copa Airlines did the same with most of its jets.
