Boeing 737 Max 8 fuselages manufactured by Spirit Aerosystems in Wichita, Kansas are transported on a BSNF train heading west over the Bozeman Pass March 12, 2019 in Bozeman, Montana.
William Campbell | Corbis News | Getty Images
It would likely be months before the Federal Aviation Administration clears Boeing to extend production of its bestselling 737 Max, the top of the agency said Thursday.
The FAA in January barred the manufacturer from boosting production of the planes weeks after a door plug blew out midair from a latest 737 Max 9, just minutes into an Alaska Airlines flight. Federal safety investigators found that the bolts that hold the panel in place appeared to not have been installed before the plane was delivered to Alaska Airlines last yr.
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun and other top company leaders met with FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker and other agency officials earlier Thursday to present a top quality improvement plan that the agency gave Boeing 90 days to provide, by which the corporate outlined its efforts to enhance staff training and production practices at its factories.
“We is not going to approve production increases beyond the present cap until we’re satisfied,” Whitaker said. He said there’s not a timeline but it surely would not likely be in the subsequent few months.
Whitaker said at a press conference after the roughly three-hour meeting that Boeing’s work was removed from complete and that the strong agency oversight of the corporate would proceed.
Whitaker’s comments suggest an extended road ahead for Boeing to make sure manufacturing quality. Meanwhile, it’s grappling with a crisis that has drained money from an iconic U.S. company desperate to improve its fame after two fatal Max crashes in 2018 and 2019 killed 346 people. Whitaker is scheduled to temporary lawmakers on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on June 4.
“Boeing has laid out their roadmap, and now they should execute,” he said.
The FAA said its senior leaders will meet with Boeing every week to review their performance metrics.
Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Mike Whitaker speaks at a news conference on the FAA’s work to carry Boeing accountable for safety and production quality issues, on the Federal Aviation Administration Headquarters on May 30, 2024 in Washington, DC.
Andrew Harnik | Getty Images
Boeing has reduced its production of the Max to stamp out production flaws, improve manufacturing processes and address increased FAA oversight.
Resulting aircraft delays have meant airline customers, equivalent to United and Southwest, have needed to redraw their growth plans.
Boeing has produced a median of 21 Max planes a month during the last three months, in accordance with an estimate from Jefferies, well below the goal rate of around 38 per 30 days that it disclosed in mid-2023.
Lower production drives up costs, and fewer aircraft deliveries deprive the corporate of money because airlines pay for the majority of the plane’s price once they receive it.
Boeing Chief Financial Officer Brian West on May 23 said that the corporate expects to burn money this yr as a substitute of generating it. For the present quarter alone, Boeing expects to make use of about $4 billion.
Boeing executives have acknowledged that the brand new plan won’t turn things around immediately.
“The 90-day plan … shouldn’t be a finish line,” West said at an investor conference last week. “We stay up for the feedback that we’ll get after next week.”
Boeing’s report detailed steps it’s taken to speculate in its workforce, which consists of hundreds of latest employees after experienced staff took exit packages in the course of the pandemic. The manufacturer also said it might improve safety culture and eliminate defects.
The corporate said it has added 300 hours of coaching material and introduced workplace coaches. It said additionally it is clearing more time on managers’ schedules to be present on factory floors as a substitute of in meetings.
The corporate said it has also reduced so-called traveled work, where required tasks on the planes are done out of sequence.
“We’re confident within the plan that we have now recommend and are committed to repeatedly improving,” said Stephanie Pope, chief executive of Boeing’s business airplane unit, who was appointed in March after an executive shake-up at the corporate. “We are going to work under the FAA’s oversight and uphold our responsibility to the flying public to proceed delivering secure, high-quality airplanes.”
The manufacturer also included in its report details about factory “stand-downs,” by which it paused work to have conversations about potential improvements on production lines with employees. The manufacturer implemented those temporary work pauses within the months after the Alaska Airlines door plug blowout.
Calhoun, who said he would step down by the tip of the yr, told staff in April that the corporate has received greater than 30,000 “ideas on how we are able to improve” and that “speak up submissions” — concerns raised by staff — and comments were up 500% over 2023.
