Even after a former Boeing engineer and whistleblower died under mysterious circumstances, the safety concerns about their planes won’t go away.
Every week a new incident occurs that brings attention to the company’s shortcomings.
Now these safety issues are getting higher level scrutiny as the people who purchase the planes just had a sit-down with Boeing to get to the bottom of the problem.
Airline CEOs request meeting with Boeing board
The CEOs of some of America’s biggest airlines have formally requested a meeting with Boeing’s board so they can discuss their concerns over production problems and the recent Alaska Airlines accident, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The business leaders want Boeing directors to give them a clear plan for fixing a spate of quality issues that arose, even while the company was under the close watch of U.S. regulators.
On January 5, a door panel blew out on a 737 MAX mid-flight, which drew concerns from passengers and airlines nationwide.
Part of the door plug blew out of the plane at 16,000 feet and fell to the earth shortly after takeoff, forcing the plane to make a dangerous landing while some passengers believed they wouldn’t make it out alive.
Federal authorities are still looking for parts of the plane to help with the investigation, and they’ve ordered similar planes to be grounded while the investigation is completed.
A Portland school teacher found the door plug in his backyard just a few days after the incident.
According to the WSJ report, Boeing has agreed to send Chairman Larry Kellner and other board members to meet the airline leaders as soon as next week.
Aside from the quality and safety concerns, airline executives are also frustrated over order backlogs, which have forced them to cut routes while looking for more aircraft to help meet growing customer demand.
One Boeing official said that he “supports” and is “encouraging” the meetings to take place.
He added, “We have been actively focused on listening to our customers at all levels of our company.”
At the time of publishing, it’s not clear which airline CEOs will attend the meeting, but companies like Southwest Airlines, United, American Airlines, and Alaska Air are the most prevalent users of the Boeing 737 MAX.
Share prices for Boeing have nosedived over the last year because of several safety incidents.
Quality questions linger
Several other incidents have started to raise more questions about Boeing’s current production quality control protocols.
It has also sparked the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to conduct a criminal probe.
According to the NTSB, records of the door being fixed during rivet repairs conducted in September 2023 cannot be found.
The agency also said Boeing erased valuable security footage that showed repairs were made on a separate Alaska Airlines flight months before the door flew off.
Another Boeing plane had to be grounded once it was found to be missing a panel on March 15.
With so many incidents affecting customer safety, it’s not surprising that the airline CEOs want Boeing to answer for the glaring oversights.
Informed American will keep you up-to-date on any developments to this ongoing story.
