Boeing chief executive ‘acknowledges mistake’ after 737 Max 9 panel blowout

Boeing should accept the fault and make amends in the wake of an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9’s mid-air door panel blowout that raised concerns about the quality standards maintained by the plane maker, its chief executive has said.

Dave Calhoun made the comments during a company meeting called to reinforce safety as the top priority for Boeing after last week’s incident.

The plane carrying 177 people on board had to make an emergency landing shortly after departing from Portland International Airport in Oregon.

The flight crew reported decompression issues shortly after the take-off. None of those on-board was injured.

“We’re going to approach this, No 1, acknowledging our mistake,” Dave Calhoun told company employees. “We’re going to approach it with 100 per cent and complete transparency every step of the way.”

Several senior Boeing executives addressed company staff from its Renton, Washington, plant where the 737 is assembled, with their remarks broadcast to workers at the company’s other locations, according to Bloomberg.

The US Federal Aviation Administration ordered the grounding of 171 Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft, whose customers include Southwest, United,

American Airlines, Ryanair, Air Canada, Turkish Airlines and some Chinese airlines.

Aviation regulators around the world are “closely monitoring” the situation.

The UAE’s General Civil Aviation

Authority said that none of the airlines in the Emirates operating the Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft was affected.

Boeing’s meeting on Tuesday was regarding the plane maker’s “response to this accident and reinforcing our focus on and our commitment to safety, quality, integrity and transparency”, Mr Calhoun said.

“We are going to work with the NTSB [National Transportation Safety Board] itself who is investigating this incident to see what caused it,” he said.

The company operating out of Arlington, Virginia said it was also in talks with its customers.

Mr Calhoun said such incidents “shake them to the bone, just like it shook me”.

“I’ve got kids, I’ve got grandkids and so do you. This stuff matters. Every detail matters.”

Boeing Commercial Airplanes chief executive Stan Deal, who is in-charge of raising output and maintaining quality at Boeing’s largest unit, also addressed the employees alongside Mr Calhoun.

Mike Delaney, Boeing’s chief safety officer, who took charge following a previous crisis at Boeing that led to the grounding of the Boeing Max 8 jets after two fatal crashes together killed 346 people, also spoke at the meeting.

This week, Boeing issued guidelines on how to conduct inspections, an initial step before the FAA approves a return to flight for 737 Max 9 planes.

United Airlines on Monday said it found loose bolts in Boeing 737 Max planes during inspections.

“Since we began preliminary inspections on Saturday, we have found instances that appear to relate to installation issues in the door plug – for example, bolts that needed additional tightening,” the company said.

On Monday, the NTSB board chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said that her agency would consider broadening the investigation.

Such a move would bring deeper scrutiny for Boeing and its manufacturing processes, and magnify issues while the US plane maker seeks to get the aircraft back into service, according to Bloomberg.

We’re going to approach it with 100 per cent and complete transparency every step of the way

DAVE CALHOUN

Boeing chief executive