Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun publicly admitted on Tuesday that the accident that partially detached the fuselage of an Alaska Airlines plane in flight last Friday was the company's fault. Calhoun pledged to work with regulators to ensure that such accidents do not happen again.
According to Japanese media on January 10, the accident last Friday caused a huge hole in the fuselage of a 737 Max 9 aircraft. Subsequently, two U.S. airlines, Alaska Airlines and United Airlines, which used the temporarily grounded aircraft, found loose parts on similar aircraft, raising concerns that similar accidents could happen again.
Boeing told employees in a separate meeting that loose bolt problems found on the plane were being treated as "quality control issues" and that Boeing and its business Spirit Aerosystems were inspecting them, according to people familiar with the matter.
Boeing has ordered its factories and vendors to ensure that such issues are addressed, and that broader system and process inspections are conducted.
In his address to employees, Calhoun first acknowledged the company's mistakes and promised to deal with the issue with 100% transparency. He also told employees that the company will ensure that every aircraft that is about to take off is safe.
Calhoun praised the Alaska Airlines crew, who landed quickly after the plane had problems, and the 171 passengers and six crew members on the plane suffered only minor injuries. He also paid tribute to Alaska Airlines, commending them for quickly grounding their 737 MAX 9 aircraft and said he knew how difficult it can be to ground planes, or even entire fleets.
Calhoun said the accident shook Boeing's customers and shocked him.
Since March 2019, when the 737 MAX family of aircraft was grounded worldwide, Boeing has suffered from multiple production issues. The grounding, which lasted 20 months, was due to two plane crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed nearly 350 people.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded 171 planes after last Saturday's accident, resulting in a large number of flight cancellations. In addition, Alaska Airlines and United Airlines found loose parts on multiple grounded aircraft during initial inspections, adding new concerns about how Boeing's best-selling aircraft family was built and the approval process.
As for the official inspection of these grounded aircraft, the airlines have not yet begun. Boeing is still working on inspection guidelines to ensure safety breaches are fixed.
The FAA said Boeing is revising its inspection and maintenance guidelines, which must be approved by the FAA before it can begin inspecting the 171 grounded aircraft. The FAA said it would conduct a "thorough review" and that public safety would "decide on a timetable for re-entering service."
Calhoun said Boeing has experienced a "moment of great anxiety about customers" and will have to "face that reality."
In terms of Boeing's delivery targets, although it was met, Boeing still lagged behind its rival Airbus in the five-year competition. Boeing delivered 528 aircraft, while Airbus will announce the delivery of 735 aircraft later this week, according to Boeing data and industry sources.
Although Boeing's net new orders rose 70% to 1,314, the company faces an aggressive production schedule. In addition, the FAA may take a more stringent approach when certifying designs for other models, including design changes required for the MAX 7. Boeing had sought an exemption to allow certification before design changes, but analysts say that possibility is now much reduced.
Two senior industry sources said they expect the aircraft that Southwest Airlines is eagerly awaiting could be delayed by another six months.
FAA Director Mike Whitaker will testify before Congress next month and may face questions about the approval of the 737 MAX aircraft. This hearing was already planned before the Alaska Airlines plane accident.
The FAA said it will continue to inspect every new 737 MAX aircraft before "issuing an airworthiness certificate and approving delivery," a process in which it typically gives the final signing of individual aircraft to the manufacturer.
The investigation will also include Spirit Aerosystems, which manufactures the fuselage for the Boeing 737 aircraft. A source told Reuters that Spirit already has a technical team working with the National Transportation Safety Board on an investigation.
Paul Ostrechel, an American crisis communications expert, commented that Calhoun's action was much quicker than the response that took weeks to admit mistakes after two fatal MAX plane crashes in 2019, stressing the importance of transparency, expressing some sympathy and promising to fix it.