Ships have been attacked at 600 miles or more from the Somali coast, and pirates are believed to be operating in a zone that spans more than 1,000 miles.
The attack is the most recent sign of a fresh bout of Somali piracy in the Indian Ocean, coinciding with a slew of attacks on merchant shipping in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.
The changes, which were communicated at an all-employee meeting on March 7, come two months after a near-disaster on a new Boeing 737 Max operated by Alaska Airlines.
David Appleton, head of professional and technical at Nautilus, which represents more than 20,000 maritime workers, said the utmost priority should be the safeguarding of the lives of seafarers.
The incident is the latest involving Boeing’s top-selling jetliner, which was grounded worldwide in 2019 following the second of two fatal crashes that killed 346 people.