Boeing 777 Engine Blast Spurs Grounding of Some Older Jets

Fan blade failure on Pratt & Whitney PW4077 engine targeted
Shares of Boeing, Raytheon slip following Denver incident

Watch: Japan has ordered its national carriers to ground several of their Boeing 777 jets after a plane operated by United Airlines Holdings Inc. had an engine failure that rained debris on a suburb of Denver, Colorado. (Source: Bloomberg)

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By Alan Levin and Julie Johnsson

February 21, 2021 at 11:35 PM UTC

Updated on

February 22, 2021 at 2:44 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Airlines grounded dozens of older Boeing Co. 777 aircraft after the failure of a Pratt & Whitney engine showered debris onto a Denver suburb and prompted U.S. regulators to order emergency inspections.

United Airlines Holdings Inc. halted operations of 24 of its planes in the wake of the incident involving one of its fleet over the weekend, after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration ordered fan-blade checks on PW4077 engines. Japan’s transport ministry grounded aircraft with the engine variant on Monday, while Korean Air Lines Co. and Asiana Airlines Inc. idled theirs and the U.K. banned such jets from its airspace.