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United Airlines discovered loose bolts while inspecting its fleet of Boeing 373 Max 9 Jets. The Federal Aviation Administration ordered all Max 9 Jets to be grounded after a door plug fell off an Alaska Airlines plane full of passengers in the middle of a flight from Oregon to California.
The door plug was discovered in the backyard of a Portland man.
United said the loose bolts were found near the door plug, and its technicians are working to resolve the issues with the jets so they can be cleared to fly again.
"Since we began preliminary inspections on Saturday, we have found instances that appear to relate to installation issues in the door plug – for example, bolts that needed additional tightening," United said in a statement. "These findings will be remedied by our Tech Ops team to safely return the aircraft to service."
United operates 79 Max Jets and had to cancel over 200 flights, according to FlightAware. Alaska Airlines also has a large number of Max 9 Jets in its fleet and was forced to cancel over 150 flights on Monday (January 8). In comparison, American Airlines only canceled 30 flights on Monday, mostly due to weather.