An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 plane.Photo:Stephen Brashear/Getty

: An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 plane sits at a gate at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on January 6, 2024 in Seattle, Washington. Alaska Airlines grounded its 737 MAX 9 planes after part of a fuselage blew off during a flight from Portland Oregon to Ontario, California

Stephen Brashear/Getty

Boeing 737-Max 9 aircrafts are returning to service in Alaska Airlines' fleet after the planes were grounded following a mid-air blowout earlier this month.

On Friday,the airline announcedthat final inspections on the first group of Max 9 aircrafts has been completed, and the FAA has cleared the planes to return to service. The first Max 9 to return to the air will be Flight 1146, which will fly from Seattle to San Diego on Friday afternoon. The flight is set to depart at 2:20 p.m. PST, perCBS News.

Two more Max 9 flights will take off later in the afternoon: Flight 621 from Las Vegas to Portland, Oregon, and Flight 1086 from Seattle to Ontario, California, according to CBS News.

Per Alaska Airlines' official website, guests who are not comfortable flying on a Max 9 plane can request to be moved to another flight. CBS News reported that United Airlines, the only other airline that operates the aircrafts, has a similar policy in place for when Max 9 flights resume on Saturday.

A member of the NTSB examines the fuselage of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282.NTSB via Getty

In this National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) handout, a member of the NTSB examines the fuselage of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 Boeing 737-9 MAX on January 7, 2024 in Portland, Oregon. A door-sized section near the rear of the Boeing 737-9 MAX plane blew off 10 minutes after Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 took off from Portland, Oregon on January 5 on its way to Ontario, California.

NTSB via Getty

Inspections on the rest of the Alaska Airlines' fleet are still underway. “Each of our 737-9 MAX will return to service only after the rigorous inspections are completed and each plane is deemed airworthy according to FAA requirements,” the airline stated.

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“I am personally committed to doing everything we can to conduct this review in a timely and transparent way,” company CEO Ben Minicucci said in a statement after the emergency landing.

“My heart goes out to those who were on this flight – I am so sorry for what you experienced. I am so grateful for the response of our pilots and flight attendants. We have teams on the ground in Portland assisting passengers and are working to support guests who are traveling in the days ahead,” he added.

source: people.com