Boeing Jet Malfunction Strands Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Switzerland

Incident marks another setback for Boeing amid ongoing scrutiny over aircraft safety issues

Secretary of State Antony Blinken was forced to change planes in Switzerland due to a critical malfunction in the Boeing 737 jet he was scheduled to fly on, caused by an oxygen leak.
The incident marks another blow to Boeing, which has been under scrutiny following a series of malfunctions, including a recent incident where a door plug blew off a Boeing 737 Max 9 mid-flight, leading to the grounding of the model by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The plane Blinken was initially set to fly on is a military version of the Boeing 737 Next Generation, not the same model involved in the Alaska Airlines incident.
Members of the press traveling with Blinken were told the replacement aircraft would not be able to accommodate everyone and were encouraged to make commercial flight arrangements back to the United States.
Prior to the incident, Blinken had been attending the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.