The Federal Aviation Administration approved an inspection and maintenance program for the troubled Boeing 737 Max 9s that will allow the planes to return to service for airlines after the agency grounded the aircraft because a door plug on an Alaska Airlines flight blew out when it reached 16,000 feet, leaving a gaping hole in the fuselage.
“The exhaustive, enhanced review our team completed after several weeks of information gathering gives me and the FAA confidence to proceed to the inspection and maintenance phase,” FAA administrator Mike Whitaker said in a statement, with the Guardian reporting the FAA will halt any additional production of the Boeing aircraft.