Turkish Airlines on Sunday temporarily withdrew its 5 Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft for service inspections. The announcement has come in the wake of the Alaska Airlines midair accident where a window and a portion of its Boeing 737 Max 9 plane’s fuselage blew out shortly after take-off in the US.
Soon after the incident, Alaska Airlines grounded all its Boeing 737 Max 9 jets for safety and maintenance inspection. The accident has spread concerns across nations and airline carriers.
The information about Turkish Airlines’ move related to its Boeing aircraft was publically confirmed by company spokesperson Yahya Üstün on social media platform X.
“Following the incident on Alaska Airlines’ Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft, as a result of the preliminary investigation of the authorities, 5 Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft in the Turkish Airlines fleet were requested to be examined as a precaution.
Until the technical review process in the incident is completed and the measures requested by the authorities are taken, Turkish Airlines has decided to withdraw 5 Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft in its fleet from operation at the airport where they will first land,”he wrote on X.
Earlier, US regulators on Saturday temporarily grounded 171 Boeing 737 MAX 9 jetliners for safety checks following a cabin panel blowout that forced a new Alaska Airlines jet carrying passengers to make an emergency landing.
According to media reports, China is also considering taking action against the aircraft after the accident. In India, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has ordered all Indian airlines to immediately conduct a one-time inspection of the emergency exits on all Boeing 737-8 Max aircraft that are operating in their fleet.
It also clarified that none of the Indian airlines has Boeing 737 Max-9 aircraft. Earlier, the entire fleet of Boeing 737 Max aircraft was temporarily taken out of service in 2019 following two deadly crashes.
Source: livemint