Alaska Airlines grounds Boeing 737 Max 9 fleet after midair window blowout

Al Jazeera :
Alaska Airlines has said it is grounding its fleet of Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft after a window and piece of fuselage blew out midair, forcing an emergency landing in Portland, in the US state of Oregon.
The incident took place shortly after takeoff on Friday and the gaping hole caused the cabin to depressurise. Flight data showed the plane climbed to 16,000 feet (4,876 metres) before returning to Portland International Airport.
The airline said Flight 1282 – which was bound for Ontario, California – landed safely with 174 passengers and six crew members.
CEO Ben Minicucci said in a statement that the airline had “decided to take the precautionary step of temporarily grounding our fleet of 65 Boeing 737-9 aircraft”.
Each jet will be returned to service after full maintenance and safety inspections, which Minicucci said the airline anticipated completing within days.
Alaska Airlines has not provided further information about the possible cause, but the United States National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have said they would investigate the incident.
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The new Boeing 737 Max 9 involved in the incident was delivered in late October to Alaska Airlines and certified in early November, according to FAA data.
US aircraft manufacturer Boeing said it was aware of the emergency landing, working to gather more information and ready to support the investigation.