Boeing Max 9 crisis upends Hong Kong airline startup’s growth

HONG Kong startup carrier Greater Bay Airlines’ plans to challenge the dominance of Cathay Pacific Airways have been thrown into disarray, with delivery of an order of Boeing Max 9 jets likely to be delayed after the mid-flight panel blowout on an Alaska Airlines flight.

Greater Bay is midway through a yearlong process to prove to Hong Kong’s Civil Aviation Department that the Max nine jet is airworthy. However, after the Jan 5 near-disaster when a door plug panel blew out not…