Passengers terrified as part of fuselage blows out forcing emergency landing as airline grounds aircraft

6 January 2024, 09:23 | Updated: 6 January 2024, 09:28

A US airline has grounded all of its Boeing 737-9 planes after passengers were left terrified when a part of the fuselage blew out mid-air, leaving a gaping hole in the aircraft.

The Alaska Airlines plane was forced to make an emergency return back to Portland International Airport in Oregon after its cabin depressurised some 16,000ft in the air.

Footage taken onboard shows passengers anxiously wait for the emergency landing as they breathe into oxygen masks.

They tell each other it was lucky nobody was sat next to the part that blew out.

A huge hole can be seen in the left hand side of the fuselage.

The plane had taken off about six minutes before it diverted.

The pilot told air traffic control that there was an emergency, and the plane had depressurised and needed to come back.

All 174 passengers and six crew members were safe.

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Ben Minicucci, the chief executive of Alaska Airlines, said: "Following tonight's event on Flight 1282, we have decided to take the precautionary step of temporarily grounding our fleet of 65 Boeing 737-9 aircraft."

The aircraft will be brought back into use after repairs and safety inspections, which are expected to last just days.

The US National Transportation Safety Board said it was looking into what happened, as did the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The Boeing 737-9 Max was certified two months ago and has flown 145 times since mid November.

The model is the newest version of the 737.

All Max 8 and Max 9 planes were grounded for two years after two Max 8s crashed in 2018 and 2019, killing more than 300 people.

Boeing had to make changes to the automated flight control system before they were put back into service.

The company said it was gathering more information about what happened in this incident.

In December, it told airlines to inspect planes for a potential loose bolt in the rudder control system.

And last year, the FAA urged pilots to limit their use of an anti-ice system because of fears that inlets near the engines could over heat, break away and hit the plane.