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An Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 at Seattle Airport: "There will be no return to normality for Boeing"

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Lindsey Wasson/AP

The Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft, which were decommissioned after a high-profile incident, will soon be allowed to take to the air again.

The US aviation authority FAA approved the procedure for the inspections of the machines it had ordered on Wednesday evening (local time).

According to the airlines concerned, such a test takes several hours per aircraft.

On January 5, shortly after take-off, a part of the fuselage broke out of an almost new Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 with more than 170 people on board.

Instead, some configurations of the more seat type have a door.

However, the affected variant of the 737 Max 9 instead has a cover that closes the opening.

The FAA and other authorities ordered all approximately 170 similar aircraft of the type to be grounded for investigation.

No one was seriously injured in the incident - by a lucky coincidence, the two seats directly at the opening were unoccupied.

United wants to fly again with the 737 Max 9 from Sunday

The FAA now specifically instructed that airlines must, among other things, inspect certain bolts, sockets and other components.

This is to ensure that the parts correspond to the aircraft's blueprint.

"This aircraft will not be operated until the process is complete and conformity to the original design is confirmed," the FAA said.

Alaska and United Airlines had also discovered loose fasteners at this point on other aircraft of the type.

Because of the flight ban, the two airlines - the only ones in the US with Max 9s - had to cancel hundreds of flights.

United said this week that the airline would make a loss in the first three months of this year because of the grounding.

Airlines from the EU do not have any aircraft of the affected model.

FAA boss Mike Whitaker said on Wednesday that he was confident that the inspection procedure that had now been established would pave the way for the resumption of flight operations.

According to its own information, United has already carried out “preliminary preparations and inspections” on its aircraft and is expected to have them take off again from Sunday.

“We will not put any Max 9 aircraft back into service until this careful inspection process is complete,” assured United top manager Toby Enqvist.

This is planned for Sunday.

Boeing said it would work with the FAA and airlines to get the grounded planes back in the air.

However, the incident has major consequences for the aircraft manufacturer.

The FAA announced that it would not authorize any further expansion of production of all models of the 737 Max for the time being.

Boeing's quality control problems are "unacceptable," emphasized authority boss Whitaker.

Now the FAA wants to take a close look at the production of the 737 Max.

It will not approve a request to expand production of Max aircraft until the agency is certain that concerns about quality control have been addressed.

The FAA made it clear to the Reuters news agency: "This means that Boeing can continue to produce the current monthly quantity, but cannot increase this quantity." Whitaker emphasized: "There will be no return to normality for Boeing."

Boeing currently builds about 30 aircraft per month.

The manufacturer has been wanting to increase production for some time in order to keep up with demand and catch up with the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus.

Boeing said it would continue to cooperate "fully and transparently" with the FAA and follow the agency's instructions when it orders measures to improve safety and quality.

The FAA did not provide any information on how long the production restrictions would apply.

phw/dpa/Reuters/AP