The US Federal Aviation Administration has ordered a check on 175 Boeing 737’s.
The forced inspections follow an incident in which a Southwest Airlines plane developed a hole in its cabin roof while in the air last Friday.
The plane with landed without incident at an Arizona military base with 118 people on board.
The flight, which had just taken off from Phoenix, developed a hole in its roof which caused a sudden drop in cabin pressure, forcing pilots to make a controlled descent from 34,400 feet.
Carriers flying older 737s have been told they must perform electromagnetic inspections on body metals within five days.
Southwest has already made repairs to five older Boeing 737-300s on which fuselage cracks were found.
All carriers flying 737-300, 400 and 500 model planes that have completed more than 35,000 take-offs and landings cycles must now have the electromagnetic inspections.
Have your say on this story