Boeing’s top executives submitted a plan to improve quality and safety to the Federal Aviation Administration on Friday, vowing to address systemic problems that have damaged the company’s reputation and put the plane maker at the center of several federal investigations.
Boeing detailed these and other steps during a three-hour meeting with FAA administrator Mike Whitaker, where the company submitted a “comprehensive action plan” that regulators ordered in February.
Mr Whitaker has given Boeing 90 days to come up with a plan to make sweeping safety improvements after a midcabin panel known as a door plug blew out of a 737 Max 9 jet flying at about 16,000 feet on January 5. No one was seriously injured during the flight.
The FAA said in a statement Thursday that “senior” leaders from the agency will “meet with Boeing weekly to review performance metrics, progress, and any challenges faced in implementing these changes.”
Boeing is also required to address findings, from an expert panel convened by the FAA last year, that point to persistent problems with the company’s safety culture. Mr Whitaker said Boeing had accepted all the panel’s recommendations made in the report.
“We need to see a strong and unwavering commitment to safety and quality that ends over time,” Mr. Whitaker said during a news conference on Friday. “This is about systemic change, and there’s a lot to do.”
The FAA did not provide details on the steps Boeing described in the plan.
Mr. Whitaker said he plans to continue weekly meetings with Boeing to make sure the actions are taken properly and on time. Mr Whitaker, who met on Thursday with David Calhoun, Boeing’s chief executive, will hold another meeting with Boeing’s chief executive in September. Mr. Calhoun said he would resign at the end of the year.
There is no timeline for Boeing to make the changes, Mr. Whitaker said.
He also said that Boeing has developed six actionable steps and that the agency can track the company’s progress. The FAA will also maintain heightened inspections for Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems, the supplier that builds the fuselage of the 737 Max jet. Boeing has said plans to buy Spirit to gain more control of the quality of the parts it produces for the company.
Boeing made many changes in the months following the panel explosion. These include increasing internal and supplier inspections, increasing training, providing additional equipment for workers and initiating independent reviews of quality systems and supplier oversight.
The company has held more than 20 meetings at sites around the world, pausing work to gather employee feedback on improving quality. More than 70,000 Boeing workers have attended the meeting, providing tens of thousands of comments, the company said.
The action plan is the latest in a series of moves by the FAA to push safety improvements across Boeing during a turbulent year for the company. Regulators are limiting monthly production of Boeing’s 737 Max jets and inspecting production lines, and are investigating the company’s compliance with federal safety standards.
Mr. Whitaker said the FAA will continue to place restrictions on Boeing until the agency is satisfied with the company’s progress. Regulators and Boeing have not yet had discussions about increasing the number of Max jets Boeing can produce in a month beyond 38, he said. Boeing is making the plane cheaper than current rates, but says it will ramp up production in the second half of the year.
“We will not approve production increases beyond the current cap until we are satisfied,” Mr. Whitaker said during a news conference. “The bottom line is that we will continue to make sure that every aircraft that rolls off the line is safe and reliable.”
Boeing is expected to share additional details about the plan.
The Department of Justice has also opened a criminal investigation on the January 5 episode. A preliminary investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board suggested that the Max 9 plane may have left Boeing’s factory in Renton, Wash., without the panels closed.
Boeing also faces potential legal ramifications from previous accidents involving the plane. The Justice Department said this month that Boeing has violated a 2021 settlement reached after two 737 Max plane crashes killed hundreds in 2018 and 2019. The ruling opens the door for Boeing to be charged with criminal conspiracy to defraud the FAA
The Justice Department found that Boeing failed to “design, implement and enforce” a compliance and ethics program that was a condition of the settlement. The company plans to fight the department’s determination.
The 2021 settlement was criticized for being too rude to Boeing and was struck without consulting the families of the 346 people who died in the Max crash. The crash occurred in Indonesia and Ethiopia and grounded the entire 737 Max fleet for 20 months. Investigations determined that both accidents were caused by a faulty triggering of a maneuvering system designed to prevent a stall during flight.