Alaska Air grounds Boeing 737 Max 9 fleet after fuselage blowout

Alaska Airlines will ground its entire fleet of Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft after a fuselage section in the rear part of the brand-new jet blew out shortly after takeoff.

The airline is taking the “precautionary step” to temporarily ground the fleet of 65 planes until completion of full maintenance and inspection, Chief Executive Officer Ben Minicucci said in a statement. Flight 1282 was carrying 171 passengers and six crew from Portland, Oregon, to Ontario, California. Nobody was injured in the incident.

The grounding by a loyal Boeing customer marks the most severe response to an incident since the manufacturer’s entire fleet of Max aircraft was temporarily taken out of service in 2019 following two deadly crashes. The 737 Max is by far Boeing’s most popular aircraft and its biggest source of revenue, with single-aisle aircraft like the Max and the corresponding Airbus SE A320neo family used on the most widely flown shorter routes.