The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States announced that it will require testing on 40 Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft and review the data from these tests before allowing the planes to resume flights.
This announcement will delay any resumption of air operations until next week at the earliest.
Last week, the FAA grounded 171 MAX 9 aircraft following an explosion in the cabin that forced an Alaska Airlines passenger plane to make an emergency landing.
Boeing shares fell 2.2% in Friday's session to close at $217.70, compared to $222.66 in the previous Thursday's session.
Since the incident—a Friday before last—until the close on the previous day, the stock has lost 12.8%, causing Boeing's market capitalization to lose approximately $19.4 billion, according to calculations by Al Jazeera Net.
Earlier, Boeing's American CEO, Dave Calhoun, admitted that the company made a mistake regarding the explosion incident and informed employees that the company would work with regulators to ensure "it does not happen again."
Both Alaska Airlines and United Airlines found disassembled parts in similar aircraft, raising concerns about the possibility of a recurrence of such an incident.
The American company has delivered 528 airplanes, while sources indicate that its competitor Airbus is set to announce the delivery of 735 airplanes for the year 2023 this week.
Key Boeing "MAX" Incidents
MAX airplanes officially entered service in 2017, and these are some of their most notable incidents:
2024
On January 5th of this year, Alaska Airlines grounded all of its Boeing 737 MAX 9 airplanes hours after an explosion of a rear part of the plane. The emergency door's plug got detached from one of the aircraft, forcing it to make an emergency landing.
The flight, which was carrying 171 passengers and a crew of 6, returned safely to Portland, Oregon, without any injuries.
2023
In December of last year, Boeing issued instructions to all its customers to inspect their 737 MAX aircraft for a potential loose screw in the planes.
The story began after routine maintenance performed by a global airline company, which then discovered a missing nut on the screw that connects the flight control system.
2019
In March 2019, after two crash incidents of this type, aviation authorities and companies across the globe mandated that Boeing 737 MAX planes remain grounded, a ban that lasted until the end of 2021.
On March 10th, 2019, an Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX crashed just minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa to Nairobi, killing all 149 passengers on board.
2018
In October 2018, a Lion Air plane of the same model crashed into the sea near Indonesia with approximately 190 individuals on board; local authorities reported no survivors.
Investigators said at the time that the pilots of Lion Air seemed to be fighting an automatic system designed to prevent the aircraft from stalling, which was a new feature in the Boeing 737 MAX model.
The investigation results indicated that the anti-stall system led to the airplane's nose being forced down, despite the pilots' efforts to correct it.
