DLNews Biz:

In a significant development, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has temporarily grounded specific Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft following an emergency landing by an Alaska Airlines plane in Oregon this Friday. The incident, which saw a fuselage plug blow off during the plane's ascent, has raised new concerns about the safety of Boeing's aircraft.

Passenger videos and firsthand accounts from the incident revealed the alarming detachment of a section of the aircraft's interior, typically unnoticed by travelers. The emergency landing necessitated the assessment of minor injuries by firefighters, and one individual was taken to the hospital, though no serious injuries were reported.

Passenger oxygen masks hang from the roof next to a missing fuselage panel flight-1282 on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 in Portland, Oregon, on January 5.

This incident adds to Boeing's recent struggles, notably the global grounding of all 737 Max planes in 2019 after two catastrophic crashes. These crashes, one in Ethiopia and another near Indonesia claimed the lives of 346 people and were later attributed to a design flaw in the aircraft.

The grounding of the 737 Max fleet in 2019 lasted 20 months in the United States, with the aircraft only returning to service in December 2020. Other countries, like China, maintained the grounding for an extended period. This grounding marked one of the costliest corporate tragedies in history, incurring over $20 billion in expenses for Boeing.

The costs continue to mount for the aerospace giant. Boeing has been grappling with significant operating losses in recent quarters, struggling to deliver a backlog of 737 Max planes to customers while facing cost overruns on other projects, including the replacement aircraft for Air Force One.

The recent Alaska Airlines flight incident is not an isolated event for Boeing. In December, the FAA advised airlines to inspect all 737 Max planes after missing bolts were discovered in the rudder control systems of two aircraft. These occurrences underscore ongoing concerns about engineering and quality issues within Boeing, which have led to tragic outcomes, groundings, and persistent safety worries.

On Saturday afternoon, Alaska Airlines announced that 18 planes had been inspected and returned to service. However, the broader implications of this latest incident for Boeing and the aviation industry remain a topic of intense scrutiny and concern.