Boeing must be led by engineers, Emirates Airline president says

Boeing must be led by engineers if it wants to drag itself out of its current crisis, Tim Clark, the president of Emirates Airline, said in comments Wednesday.

The American aerospace giant is once more mired in controversy following a recent series of mid-flight technical failures, starting with a door panel that blew off of a latest Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 while it was midair on Jan. 5. 

The Federal Aviation Administration and Justice Department at the moment are scrutinizing the plane-maker more intensely, the previous capping the production of Boeing’s 737 aircraft at 38 per 30 days while it investigates its manufacturing practices. The FAA grounded all 737-9 Max aircraft with door plugs on Jan. 6.

“To repair Boeing’s issues the corporate needs a robust engineering lead as its head coupled to a governance model which prioritizes safety and quality,” said Clark, who leads Dubai’s flag carrier Emirates.

“It’s little wonder that the Machinists Union wants a seat on the board, simply to make sure that the voice of the factory floor is an element and parcel of the choice process and is fully integrated into the governance model’s risk management strategies.”

Aviation analysts and former Boeing employees have criticized the corporate’s reported sidelining of engineers in its senior management ranks. They note that of the highest executives at Boeing, the just one with an engineering background was Stan Deal — the outgoing CEO of Boeing’s Industrial Airplanes division — and he’s retiring and being replaced as a part of the corporate’s major management shakeup announced Monday.

Stephanie Pope, Boeing’s chief operating officer, has taken Deal’s place. Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun may also step down at the top of 2024.

“Whether, yet again, this changing of the guard will resolve Boeing’s issues only time will tell, but time, unfortunately, will not be on their side,” Clark said. “I might suggest that some serious lateral pondering kicks in as soon as possible.”

CNBC has contacted Boeing for comment.

Up until the Alaska Airlines incident, the plane-maker was seen as having recovered from its 2018-2019 crisis period, during which period two of its latest 737 Max jets crashed inside a period of six months, killing 346 people.

The 737 Max was grounded worldwide for nearly two years after that, and the following investigations found design problems within the aircraft, insufficient training of pilots on the brand new models, and the hiding of data from safety regulators, resulting in billions of dollars in fines for Boeing and a senior management shakeup.

But following the Alaska Airlines door blowout in January, the FAA’s six-week audit of Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems “found multiple instances where the businesses allegedly did not comply with manufacturing quality control requirements,” based on an FAA release published on March 4.

“The FAA identified non-compliance issues in Boeing’s manufacturing process control, parts handling and storage, and product control,” it said. The regulatory agency said it informed Boeing’s leadership that it “must address the audit’s findings as a part of its comprehensive corrective motion plan to repair systemic quality-control issues,” and address its “safety culture.”

In a previous statement cited by CNBC, a Boeing spokesperson said in response to the FAA findings that the corporate continues “to implement immediate changes and develop a comprehensive motion plan to strengthen safety and quality.” 

“We’re squarely focused on taking significant, demonstrated motion with transparency at every turn,” the spokesperson said.

— CNBC’s Joan Muwahed contributed to this report.