Aeroméxico has canceled or delayed over 100 flights while it inspects its fleet of 19 Boeing 737 Max-9 planes, after an Alaska Airlines plane of the same model suffered a dangerous blowout in the United States on Friday.
Aeroméxico decided to ground its Max-9 fleet on Saturday, following an order by the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to conduct immediate safety reviews on all Max-9 planes operated by U.S. airlines or on U.S. soil.
As of Sunday evening, Aeroméxico had canceled 13 flights on Saturday and 58 flights on Sunday, and delayed another 18, according to the newspaper Reforma. It expects to cancel another 17 on Monday.
Routes affected by the cancellations include flights between Mexico City International Airport (AICM) and San Francisco, Miami, Chicago, Las Vegas, Tijuana, Cancún, Chihuahua, Puerto Vallarta, Monterrey, Los Cabos, Mérida, Hermosillo and Miami. Delayed routes include those between the AICM and Tijuana, Zacatecas, Orlando, Madrid and New York.
Sources from the Mexican airline told Milenio newspaper that the number of passengers affected represents only 5% of the total expected to fly during those three days.
“The inspection of our Max-9 fleet will be concluded as soon as possible to continue with scheduled operations and we will continue to work in coordination with Boeing, as well as with the relevant authorities,” Aeroméxico said in a statement on Saturday.
Alaska Airlines flight 1282 was forced to make an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon, on Friday evening, after a panel blew out shortly after takeoff, depressurizing the cabin and leaving a gaping hole in the fuselage.
The Max-9 jetliner’s 171 passengers and six crew members donned oxygen masks as the pilots returned the plane safely to Portland, around 20 minutes after departure. Nobody was seriously hurt, thanks to the fact that the plane had not yet reached cruising altitude and nobody was walking around the cabin.
Alaska Airlines immediately grounded its fleet of 65 Max-9 jets for safety reviews. In a statement over the weekend, the U.S. airline said that it had so far inspected the panels on 18 jets and cleared them to return to service, and expected to complete inspections over the coming days.
Around 171 aircraft worldwide are believed to require similar reviews, which take around four to eight hours per aircraft.
Early on Monday, a Portland schoolteacher named Bob alerted the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) that he had found the missing door plug in his yard. Board authorities will examine the detached piece of the plane to better understand what caused the accident.
With reports from Associated Press, Reforma and Milenio
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Is this a nut and bolt designed as its interior is this an engineering issue? Why shouldn’t the exterior of an airplane be designed as its interior intent. Is Boeing just trying to save expense at the cost of safety to its customers. Sound like the whole industry-you the passenger are only a credit card to the airlines!
Thanks. Due to fly on Saturday, but on a route using one of their Brazilian planes.
To whomever wrote this article and said this: “Nobody was seriously hurt, thanks to the fact that the plane had not yet reached cruising altitude and nobody was walking around the cabin.” It might be a good idea to add “because passengers were wearing seat belts.” Maybe in here add commentary about the importance. Because some items had been sucked out of the aircraft. Imagine if a passenger unbuckled their seatbelt, or never did? I cringe. I have a friend that won’t wear a seatbelt (because she needs the extension and is embarrassed, so she covers up with a sweater, flight attendants pass right by upon getting prepared for takeoff and really should inspect “under the sweaters”. I tell her to get over it, no one cares, get the extension, be safe. I said that also in flight a passenger could hit their head on the ceiling during a blast of turbulence and get injured. If the flight attendants don’t inspect thoroughly, us passengers should take responsibility for our own safety. I keep mine buckled the whole flight. The FA’s do a great job, but due to time constraints, they may miss something. Not their fault. Was a miracle no one was seriously hurt. Thank you for the article.