The “comprehensive action plan” that US air safety regulators demanded Boeing provide on Thursday follows a nearly catastrophic event in January.
The massive American aerospace firm has been under tremendous scrutiny because to production issues and critical statements from whistleblowers in the wake of deadly disasters in 2018 and 2019, which have caused the company to remain in the news unintentionally.
An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 had to make an emergency landing on January 5 due to a fuselage panel blowing out in midair. Only in October had Boeing delivered the aircraft to the carrier.
Shortly after the incident, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) temporarily grounded 171 MAX jets with the same configuration, following the latest production problem after Boeing struggled for much of 2023 to maintain and boost output on the MAX and its other bestseller, the 787 Dreamliner.
A preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board published in February found that four bolts securing the panel that blew off were missing.
“Boeing must commit to real and profound improvements,” FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said on February 28.
Boeing was given 90 days by the FAA at that time to create “a comprehensive action plan to address its systemic quality-control issues to meet FAA’s non-negotiable safety standards.”
According to a person with knowledge of the situation, the plan will be filed to the FAA on Thursday.
According to an FAA alert posted on Wednesday, the regulator and Whitaker are scheduled to hold a press conference that day “on the FAA’s ongoing work to hold Boeing accountable for safety and production quality issues.”
In response to an AFP inquiry, Boeing would not respond.
The proposal also aims to resolve issues that were found at Boeing during an audit conducted by an expert advisory council for the FAA.
In mid-May chief executive Dave Calhoun spoke of the lengthy process ahead.
“We anticipate the FAA will take whatever time is necessary to review that plan and hold us accountable to the various control parameters that are put in place as we move forward,” he told a shareholder meeting.“This is more of a beginning than it is an end.”
