Jan 7 (Reuters) - Alaska Airlines said it has canceled 170 Sunday flights affecting nearly 25,000 guests, a move after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered grounding of 171 Boeing 737 MAX 9 airplanes to run inspections.

The airline expects additional significant cancellations through the first half of the week, it said on Sunday. (Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama in Bengaluru; editing by Diane Craft)