Alaska Airlines resumes flying Boeing 737 Max 9 plane after door plug blowout

Alaska Airlines resumed flying Boeing 737 Max 9 plane following fleet inspections for the first time after a door plug fell off one of its planes mid-air on Jan. 5

Alaska Airlines resumed flying the Boeing 737 Max 9 following fleet inspections for the first time on Friday after a door plug fell off one of its planes mid-air three weeks ago.

Alaska Flight 1146 -- the airline's first Max 9 flight since the aircraft was grounded -- departed Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Friday afternoon, bound for San Diego.

Two other Max 9 flights are expected to depart Friday afternoon -- one from Las Vegas to Portland, Oregon, and another from Seattle to Ontario, Canada -- according to the airline.

The service return comes two days after the Federal Aviation Administration released final instructions to airlines to begin conducting inspections of their 737 Max 9 planes.

Alaska confirmed in a statement on Wednesday that it planned to return some of its 737 MAX-9 aircraft back to the skies on Friday following a thorough inspection.