WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Copa Airlines jet became the first 737 MAX 9 to return to service on Thursday, after 171 Boeing MAX 9s were grounded this month in the wake of an accident involving a mid-air blowout on an Alaska Airlines plane.
A Copa spokesperson confirmed that it had returned the aircraft to service.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday approved an inspection process that will allow grounded MAX 9s to return to service. Copa follows FAA directives.
The plane took off from Panama City at 12:11 p.m. local time on Thursday en route for Sao Paulo, Brazil, according to FlightRadar24.
Copa said earlier it had received authorization for its 21 grounded MAX 9s to undergo inspections and would reinstate flights that had previously been canceled on Thursday.
Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Valerie Insinna and Rajesh Kumar Singh; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
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