For Alaska Airlines and its passengers, a return to normal may take a while.
The carrier has grounded a fifth of its fleet after a fuselage panel blew out on one of its Boeing 737 Max 9 jets on Friday night, leaving a hole in the side of the plane.
The airline announced Wednesday that it would keep its Max 9 jets grounded until at least Saturday while it awaited instructions from Boeing on how to carry out safety inspections.
United Airlines, with 79 planes, and Alaska, with 65, are the heaviest users of the Max 9 in the United States. But the jet model makes up less than 10 percent of United’s fleet, allowing it to fill in gaps on planned routes more easily than Alaska.
Grounding the Max 9 has forced Alaska to cancel as many as 150 flights per day. About 20 percent of its flights were canceled on Wednesday, according to FlightAware, which tracks flight data.
