FAA won’t clear Boeing to increase 737 Max production for months
Production of 737s was limited in February after a door plug blew out midair from a new 737 Max 9, just minutes into an Alaska Airlines flight
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Your support makes all the difference.The Federal Aviation Administration will likely not clear Boeing to increase production of its bestselling 737 Max for months, the head of the agency said on Thursday.
The FAA in January barred the company from boosting production of the planes after a door plug blew out midair from a new 737 Max 9, just minutes into an Alaska Airlines flight. Federal safety investigators later found that the plane did not have the critical bolts it needed to keep the doorplug in place when it left the factory.
Since then, whistleblowers have accused the company of taking shortcuts that endanger passengers, a claim that Boeing disputes. The company has also been involved in multiple civil and criminal investigations
Following the incident, Boeing was given 90 days to present a quality improvement plan to the FAA, with Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun and other top company leaders meeting with agency administrator Mike Whitaker on Thursday to outline the company’s efforts to improve staff training and production practices at its factories.
But there is still a long road ahead for Boeing, with no sign that the ban on 737 production will be lifted any time soon. “We will not approve production increases beyond the current cap until we’re satisfied,” Whitaker said. He added that there isn’t a timeline but it wouldn’t likely be in the next few months.
“Boeing has laid out their roadmap, and now they need to execute,” he said.
Whitaker said at a press conference after the roughly three-hour meeting that Boeing’s work was far from complete and that the strong agency oversight of the company would continue, with senior FAA leaders meeting with Boeing every week to review their performance metrics.
It comes as the company is grappling with financial problems, owing to fewer aircraft deliveries from airline customers such as United and Southwest, which have had to withdraw their growth plans since production of 737s was limited.
Boeing Chief Financial Officer Brian West on May 23 said that the company expects to burn cash this year instead of generating it. For the current quarter alone, Boeing expects to use about $4bn.
Meanwhile, the company is eager to improve its reputation following the deadly crashes of two Max jetliners in 2018 and 2019, in which 346 people were killed. The Justice Department said two weeks ago that Boeing violated terms of a 2021 settlement that allowed it to avoid prosecution for fraud. The charge was based on the company allegedly deceiving regulators about a flight-control system that was implicated in the crashes.
“It's going to be a long road to get Boeing back to where they need to be, making safe airplanes,” Whitaker told ABC News last week.
Boeing has said its new plans include investing in its workforce, which is composed of thousands of new employees after experienced staff took exit packages during the pandemic. The manufacturer also said it would improve safety culture and eliminate defects.
The quality improvement plan also involves 300 hours of training material and new workplace coaches, as well as more time for managers to be on factory floors rather than in meetings.
Meanwhile, the company is reducing “traveled work” — assembly tasks that are done out of their proper chronological order — and keeping closer tabs on key supplier Spirit AeroSystems, which has struggled with manufacturing flaws on a larger plane, the 787 Dreamliner.
“We are confident in the plan that we have put forward and are committed to continuously improving,” said Stephanie Pope, chief executive of Boeing’s commercial airplane unit, who was appointed in March after an executive shake-up at the company. “We will work under the FAA’s oversight and uphold our responsibility to the flying public to continue delivering safe, high-quality airplanes.”
In March, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun announced he would be resigning from his role at the end of the year following what he described as a “watershed moment” for the company after the Alaska Airlines incident.