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FAA: Boeing must develop comprehensive quality plan in 90 days

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Boeing must develop a comprehensive action plan to address “systemic quality-control issues” within 90 days, the head of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday, in a statement critical of the planemaker following an all-day meeting with CEO Dave Calhoun on Tuesday.

“Boeing must commit to real and profound improvements,” FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said in the statement. “Making foundational change will require a sustained effort from Boeing’s leadership, and we are going to hold them accountable every step of the way, with mutually understood milestones and expectations.”  

Boeing has scrambled to explain and strengthen safety procedures after a door panel detached during a Jan. 5 flight on a brand new Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9, forcing pilots to make an emergency landing.

Boeing’s production rate has been capped by regulators and closely scrutinized by lawmakers and customers following the Jan. 5 incident and the new statement raises fresh questions about how long the production rate halt will last.

→ NTSB released its preliminary report on the Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 incident

Whitaker said Boeing’s plan must incorporate forthcoming results of the FAA production-line audit and findings from an expert review panel report released earlier this week.

That report, which had been commissioned in early 2023, was highly critical of the company’s safety management processes, saying Boeing suffered from “inadequate and confusing implementation of the components of a positive safety culture.”

Boeing last week abruptly removed Ed Clark, the head of its troubled 737 MAX program, as part of a management shakeup.

The FAA said Wednesday Boeing must take steps to improve its Safety Management System (SMS) program, which it committed to in 2019 and combine it with a Quality Management System to “create a measurable, systemic shift in manufacturing quality control.”

Whitaker visited Boeing’s Renton, Washington, factory, where the 737 MAX line is produced, on February 12. Whitaker expressed concerns about some things he saw on the tour, two people briefed on the matter told Reuters.

The meeting with Calhoun lasted more than seven hours, sources said. “Boeing must take a fresh look at every aspect of their quality-control process and ensure that safety is the company’s guiding principle,” Whitaker said. 

With information from Reuters

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