The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) declared in recent hours that the B-737 MAX 9 aircraft will return to flight after the end of inspections on the 171 grounded examples. The stop to service came on January 5 after the explosion of a panel (plug door) on board an aircraft operated by the US company Alaska Airlines. This has since led to the cancellation of thousands of flights.

FAA also announced that it will not allow the Boeing Group to expand production (42 aircraft per month in February, 47 in August, 52 by February 2025 and 57 in October 2025) of the aircraft in question: "We will not accept any request to expand the development nor will we approve additional production lines for the 737 MAX until the quality control issues discovered during this process have been resolved", said FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker.

"The thorough review that our team completed, after several weeks of information gathering, gives me and the FAA the confidence to proceed to the inspection and maintenance phase", but before the 737 Max 9 returns to flight it is necessary "ensure accountability and full compliance with required quality control procedures" by the aircraft manufacturer.