Should Concerns About Boeing 737 Max 9 Groundings Affect Travelers?

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued an emergency airworthiness directive (EAD) in response to Friday's events on an Alaska Airlines flight, in which a section of a Boeing 737 Max 9 jet's wall burst off in midair, quickly depressurizing the cabin and necessitating an emergency landing.Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, operating a 737 Max 9, experienced a "in-flight departure of a mid-cabin door plug" after takeoff on Friday on its way from Portland, Oregon to Ontario, California.

Thankfully, a quick cabin decompression allowed the 171 passengers and 6 crew members to be safely returned to Portland's airport.Due to an FAA order, 171 of these aircraft were grounded on Saturday for thorough inspections. As a result, they will be placed into service until they are cleared to return, which could take several days given that each examination takes four to eight hours.Possible Interruptions to Flight Due to this, airlines who fly this particular model of aircraft are alerting travelers who have imminent travel plans to possible disruptions in their flights, which have already affected scores of flights.

The 737 Max 9 model is flown by a number of large international airlines; however, the FAA order has only grounded a subset of these aircraft.