Turkish Airlines grounds all Boeing 737 Max 9s after incident in U.S.

ISTANBUL, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Türkiye's national flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THY) has grounded all of its Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft in the wake of the incident in the U.S., local media reported on Monday.

THY decided to ground all five of its Max 9 planes "until the technical investigation process is completed and the measures requested by the authorities are taken," according to the NTV broadcaster.

It said the grounding decision would be valid for the aircraft at the airport where they would first land.

"Flight safety is our top priority," THY press advisor Yahya Ustun wrote in a post on social media platform X, previously known as Twitter.

Although THY has a small fleet, the NTV noted that the grounding is expected to affect the flights adversely, causing cancellations and travel disruptions.

According to the NTV report, the airline's two planes landed in Iran when THY announced its grounding decision. The broadcaster said that it was unclear whether THY would bring its aircraft from Iran to Türkiye.

"It is also not yet clear how THY will compensate for the damage caused by the withdrawal of the aircraft from the service," the NTV added.

The emergency exit door of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 type aircraft exploded at 16,000 feet on Friday, leaving a large hole and decompressing the passenger cabin.

The incident, which happened soon after the plane's take-off from Portland International Airport in the U.S. state of Oregon, had left the passengers in panic. The plane, destined for Ontario, California, made an emergency landing back in Portland.

Videos and photos showing the large hole of the plane, with oxygen masks falling from the ceiling, went viral on social media platforms in Türkiye.

"Without the seat belt, many passengers would have floated in the air," wrote Ugurcan Kizilkurt, a Turkish X user.

Abdulkadir Tuncerdem, a licensed technician for Boeing, also said on X that "inspections will show if it was the design flaw that caused this incident."