Alaska Airlines and United Airlines canceled hundreds of flights after one of Alaska Airlines’ Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft suffered a mid-air incident when a door plug blew out, requiring an emergency landing.
As of Monday morning, Alaska Airlines had canceled 139 flights, or 20% of its scheduled departures, while United Airlines had canceled 204 flights, or 7% of its departures, according to FlightAware, which tracks commercial plane flights.
Friday’s incident prompted the FAA to ground all of the types of Boeing 737 Max 9s involved in the incident until the agency is “satisfied that they are safe,” an FAA spokesperson said in a statement Sunday.
Alaska and United are the only two U.S. passenger airlines that use Max 9 aircraft. The companies operate nearly two-thirds of the 215 Max 9 aircraft in service around the world, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. The incident also prompted both Alaska and United to ground their entire fleets of 65 Max 9s.
Shares of Boeing tumbled 8% on Monday morning, while Alaska Air Group, the parent of Alaska Airlines, slipped 4%. United’s shares rose 1%.
