The US aviation regulator said 171 Boeing 737 Max 9s must be grounded for checks after part of an Alaska Airlines plane’s fuselage fell off on Friday (5 January), leading to rapid decompression of the cabin.
The Alaska plane carrying 177 passengers and crew landed safely back in Portland.
Following the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) order, Alaska said flight disruptions are expected to last into next week as it was forced to ground 65 aircraft.
United Airlines has grounded 79 planes, which is the bulk of the aircraft affected.
Thousands of passengers are facing flight cancellations.
However, disruptions are likely to primarily affect flights in the US as the European Union Aviation Safety Agency said no European airlines operate Max 9s with the same configuration covered by the FAA order.
Required inspections are expected to take around four to eight hours per aircraft, the FAA said.
