Alaska Airlines said Monday that its technicians saw "some loose components" on its Boeing 737 Max 9 planes under inspection, after one of its aircraft lost part of its fuselage in mid-flight on Saturday.

The Washington state-based company said in a statement late Monday that its maintenance team found loose components on some of its aircraft as it began preparing its 737-9 MAX fleet for inspection.

The airline did not elaborate on the findings, waiting for the results of the "thorough inspection" that will be carried out according to the requirements of the Boeing company and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

On Monday, United Airlines also reported that it has found loose screws on its Boeing 737 Max 9 planes.

"Since we began preliminary inspections on Saturday, we have found instances that appear to be related to installation issues in the door panel: for example, screws that needed additional tightening," United said in a statement.

Two agents with the door that detached from the Alaska Airlines Boeing.NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD

United Airlines is the largest operator of Boeing 737 Max 9s, with 79 of these aircraft in its fleet, while Alaska Airlines has 65 of this class of aircraft.

The Alaska Airlines plane that suffered the incident on Saturday lost at an altitude of almost 5,000 meters the panel that had sealed a hole designed to house an additional emergency door, a common measure on planes that make routes with low passenger density.

The plane was forced to return to the city of Portland, Oregon, from where it had taken off, a few minutes after taking off, without serious injuries.

At a news conference in Portland, Oregon, Jennifer Homendy, president of the National Transportation Safety Board (NSTB), said they are still in the investigation phase.

The panel was found Sunday by a schoolteacher in the backyard of his Portland home.

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Homendy said the panel will help advance the investigation to find the cause of the emergency.

Following the incident, the FAA immediately ordered the grounding of all 737 Max 9s in the same configuration as the Alaska Airlines plane for inspections.

The measure, also adopted by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), does not affect any of the company's aircraft in Europe, as the Boeing 737 Max 9s operating in EU space have a different configuration.

In total there are 215 of these aircraft in service around the world, and in addition to United and Alaska Airlines, Panama's Copa Airlines, Mexico's Aeromexico, Iceland Air, Turkish Airlines and FlyDubai have them in their fleets.

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