UPDATED 

BOEING OUSTS MUILENBURG, NAMES DAVID CALHOUN AS CEO AMID MAX CRISIS

WAS HE FIRED OR DID HE QUIT?

Sacked Boeing boss could walk away with up to $52m
Dennis Muilenburg will walk away from Boeing with up to $52m (£40m) after resigning following two deadly plane crashes that prompted a safety scandal.

Boeing Reports $8.1B In Cancellations

Boeing Boss Dennis Muilenburg Scolded by FAA, According to Reports

by John Biers

DECEMBER 23, 2019Boeing's 737 MAX has been grounded worldwide since the March 16, 2019 
crash of an Ethiopian airways plane, the second deadly crash of the aircraft, 
which has raised questions about the company's handling of the crisis

Boeing on Monday pushed out its embattled chief executive, Dennis Muilenburg, as it attempts to pivot from a protracted crisis surrounding the grounding of its top-selling 737 MAX after two deadly crashes.

More than nine months after the MAX was grounded and a week after halting production of the aircraft, Boeing named board Chairman David Calhoun as chief executive and president, saying the company needed to "restore confidence" and "repair relationships with regulators, customers and all other stakeholders."

A week ago, Boeing took the monumental step of temporarily shutting down MAX production because of the crisis, which has pushed the aircraft's return to the skies into 2020 and raised the anxiety level among Boeing's workforce and suppliers.

Though coming during the sleepy days ahead of the Christmas holiday, the move was not entirely unexpected after Boeing stripped Muilenburg of his chairman title in October, installing board member Calhoun in that post.

Still, while Boeing watchers had seen Muilenburg's days as numbered, some expected him to stay on until the MAX was returned to service.

But the timing of that landmark event remains unclear and will depend on the Federal Aviation Administration, which has made it clear it is not in a hurry.

An FAA spokesman said the agency does not comment on personnel decisions.

"The FAA continues to follow a thorough process for returning the Boeing 737 MAX to passenger service," the FAA spokesman said. "Our first priority is safety, and we have set no timeframe for when the work will be completed."

Muilenburg repeatedly offered predictions on the 737 MAX return to service that proved overly-optimistic. His prospects further dimmed last week when its Starliner unmanned spacecraft came up short in a NASA mission to reach the International Space Station.

Muilenburg's departure was "long overdue," said former National Transportation Safety Board chief Jim Hall.

"Boeing clearly needs to reset the table and put someone in who puts safety first," Hall told AFP.Boeing selected board chairman David Calhoun (L) to replace Dennis Muilenburg 
as CEO to 'restore confidence' in the company

Another insider?

Shares rallied on the announcement of the leadership shakeup, which came after calls in Congress for Muilenburg to go. The stock price jumped 2.9 percent to finish at $337.55.

But Scott Hamilton of Leeham News, an aviation website, noted that Calhoun had roundly praised Muilenburg's performance as CEO in a November television interview.

The executive has been "part of the Board policy-making that led to the cost-cutting some say had deleterious impact on the development of the MAX," Hamilton wrote.

"Calhoun has been on the board 10 years," he said. "Is Calhoun, an insider, the right person to pull Boeing out of its dive?"

Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, called for a "complete management house cleaning" at Boeing and new leadership "who will take safety seriously."

Calhoun previously served as vice chairman of General Electric, where he had a long career after starting with the company soon after graduating from Virginia Tech. He also currently serves as senior managing director of investment banking firm Blackstone Group.

Following the announcement, Calhoun reached out to lawmakers, airline CEOs, suppliers, regulators and other key stakeholders, a Boeing spokesman said.

Muilenburg will leave the company immediately but Calhoun will not take the CEO post until January 13, 2020, while he exits existing commitments, Boeing said in a news release.

During that period, Chief Financial Officer Greg Smith will serve as interim CEO. Meanwhile, board member Lawrence W. Kellner will become non-executive chairman of the board effective immediatelyBoeing 737 MAX planes parked in a Washington state airport amid a grounding 
that has dragged on for more than nine months

Awkward response to crisis

Muilenburg's response to the crisis was increasingly criticized as the MAX grounding has dragged on far longer than initially expected as more disturbing details have dribbled out about the certification of the aircraft and issues with the flight software implicated in both crashes.

He also was seen as tone deaf and awkward towards families of the 346 people killed in the crashes.

Michael Stumo, whose daughter Samya was killed in the Ethiopian Airlines crash in March, called Muilenburg's departure "a good first step toward restoring Boeing to a company that focuses on safety and innovation."

"The next step is for several Board members who are underperforming or underqualified to resign," Stumo said.

The company resisted grounding the planes even after the second crash when Muilenburg pressed his case in phone calls with President Donald Trump.

Probes of the two crashes have focused in particular on the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, an automated flight control system.

FAA chief Steve Dickson ripped Muilenburg in October for not disclosing communications from a Boeing pilot that raised questions about the MCAS system.

The FAA also called out the company for its overly-optimistic statements about restoring the MAX saying it created the perception Boeing was trying "to force FAA into taking quicker action."

---30---

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2019/10/boeing-board-strips-ceo-of-chairman.html

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=boeing 

TheStranger.com
It's Time to Nationalize Boeing - Slog 
Boeing finally fired its CEO, Dennis Muilenburg. Many where baffled by the fact that he still had the job months after the world grounded 700 of the company's ..

Dennis Muilenburg: Goodbye to Boeing lifer who started as an intern at the aerospace giant
A Boeing “lifer”, 55-year-old Dennis Muilenburg started working for the aerospace giant in 1985 as an intern.

SPOT THE CONTRADICTIONS UPDATED

Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg fired amid 737 Max crisis
Boeing Co has fired its Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg, seeking to restore confidence after two fatal crashes forced the world's biggest planemaker to halt ...

Boeing CEO resigns after two deadly Max 737 crashes
Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg resigned Monday with no end in sight to the crisis that has engulfed the manufacturer and its Max 737 jetliner.

These are the mistakes that cost Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg his job
From the beginning of the 737 Max crisis, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg acted cluelessly about how much trouble the company faced. Monday, that cost ...

Analysis | Boeing CEO's Ouster Won't Solve Deeper Problems
Dennis Muilenburg had to go, but the company needs a cultural overhaul.

New Boeing boss seen as tough veteran used to dealing with crises

But David Calhoun will have a stacked in tray as the fallout over the 737 MAX plane appears set to continue

Boeing chief fired but 737 concerns persist
Boeing has fired its chief executive, Dennis Muilenburg, in a bid to restore confidence in the firm after two deadly crashes involving its 737 Max plane. More than ...

Boeing Discloses New Set of 737 Max Messages to US Regulators
(Bloomberg) -- Boeing Co. has disclosed a new batch of internal messages related to the 737 Max program to federal regulators. The documents were turned ...




How FAA chief's 'dressing down' of Boeing CEO finally pushed him out

Boeing Axes CEO as Company Hits New Heights of Self-Denial

A new boss takes over as the troubled firm abruptly decides to halt production on its grounded fleet of 737 Max disaster-crafts.

Boeing, Boeing, gone! CEO Muilenburg quits 'effective immediately'

With no end in sight to Boeing's troubles with the 737 Max 8, CEO Dennis Muilenburg has resigned, the airplane manufacturer announced Monday morning. 
Muilenburg Firing Punctuates Biggest Boeing Change In Years

Whether more management heads roll at Boeing remains to be seen now that Dennis Muilenburg has been fired as chief executive. 
Boeing’s Board Missed Its Chance

As the Boeing CEO stands down, a timeline of the planemaker’s successes and failures

Incoming Boeing CEO David Calhoun to FAA: We want to be regulated

Boeing to suppliers: No 737 Max parts for a month as crisis prompts production halt
Factbox: From GE to media, Boeing's new CEO

Boeing's CEO's resignation is long overdue: Congressman
Boeing announces a management shake-up.Congressman Chuy Garcia says the move was long overdue.

The man in charge of Boeing when two 737 Max jets crashed, with the loss of 346 lives, has resigned as president and chief executive of the company. Here are ... 

The board at Boeing has had at least a year to devote some time to what they just proved was not a hypothetical question – What do we do to assure leadership ... Boeing CEO Dennis A. Muilenburg has stepped down from his position "effectively immediately" following 14 months of headwinds triggered by two fatal crashes 

---30---

Investigator says she asked Boeing's CEO who handled panel that blew off a jet. He couldn't help her

The Associated Press
Wed, March 13, 2024



Company CEO David Calhoun, center, watches progress as he waits for the company's IPO to begin trading, Jan. 26, 2011, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy, the nation’s chief accident investigator, said Wednesday, March 13, 2024, that her agency still doesn’t know who worked on the panel that blew off a jetliner in January and that Boeing’s David CEO Calhoun told her that he couldn’t provide the information because the company has no records about the job. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

The nation’s chief accident investigator said Wednesday that her agency still doesn’t know who worked on the panel that blew off a jetliner in January and that Boeing’s CEO told her that he couldn’t provide the information because the company has no records about the job.

“The absence of those records will complicate the NTSB’s investigation moving forward,” National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy wrote in a letter to a Senate committee that is looking into the Jan. 5 accident on a Boeing 737 Max 9 operated by Alaska Airlines.

Boeing issued a brief statement vowing, as it has many times, to support the investigation.

Homendy told senators last week that the NTSB asked Boeing for security-camera footage that might help identify who worked on the panel in September, but was told the video was overwritten after 30 days — months before the blowout.

Boeing said Wednesday that it's standard company practice to erase video after 30 days.

Homendy's latest letter to the Senate Commerce Committee was a follow-up to her appearance before the panel last week. Shortly after her testimony ended, Boeing provided names of 25 employees who work on doors at the company’s 737 factory near Seattle.

She said, however, the company still hasn’t said which of the workers removed the panel, which plugs a hole left when extra emergency doors are not required on a plane. She said she even called Boeing CEO David Calhoun.

“He stated he was unable to provide that information and maintained that Boeing has no records of the work being performed,” Homendy wrote. Boeing did not comment on the phone call.

There is a drawback to NTSB's focus on identifying specific workers, Homendy conceded. She worried that it could discourage people from talking about the matter with investigators, and so she told her staff to protect the identities of Boeing employees who come forward.

Boeing is unable to provide key information in door plug blowout investigation, NTSB chair says

Gregory Wallace, CNN
Wed, March 13, 2024 

Investigators probing the Boeing 737 Max blowout say their investigation is being held back by Boeing’s lack of a paper trail for key work.

Despite interviewing employees who work at Boeing’s Renton, Washington facility that assembles the 737 Max, as well as collecting other paperwork, the National Transportation Safety Board says it has not determined who in Boeing’s factory worked on the door plug that left the factory with missing bolts and later blew out on an Alaska Airlines passenger flight in January. Boeing recently said it has searched for records but believes its employees did not document the work.

“The absence of those records will complicate the NTSB’s investigation moving forward,” NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy wrote in a letter to the Senate committee that is also probing Boeing.

The letter noted that Boeing has also been unable to provide security footage of the September 2023 work, which included removing and reinstalling the door plug. Homendy told the Senate Commerce Committee last week that her investigators noticed Boeing “security cameras all over the facility,” but that they were told the footage is kept for only 30 days. Boeing told CNN that 30-day record retention policy for security camera footage is standard practice.

The letter revealed that the NTSB’s first request to Boeing for relevant employees’ names came on January 9 — four days after the mid-flight incident. On February 2, the NTSB says Boeing provided “names of individuals who may provide insight regarding the work performed.”

NTSB said it requested another list of names on March 2 as it prepared for a series of interviews with Boeing employees last week.

In this National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) handout, an opening is seen in the fuselage of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 Boeing 737-9 MAX on January 7, 2024 in Portland, Oregon. A door-sized section near the rear of the Boeing 737-9 MAX plane blew off 10 minutes after Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 took off from Portland, Oregon on January 5 on its way to Ontario, California. - Handout/NTSB/Getty ImagesMore

Homendy wrote that the agency is not looking to speak with employees for punitive purposes. “Our only intent is to identify deficiencies and recommend safety improvements so accidents like this never happen again,” she wrote.

Homendy signaled that the back-and-forth with Boeing over the names of specific employees is complicating the investigation and said the NTSB would work to protect employees who come forward.

“I have become increasingly concerned that the focus on the names of individual front-line workers will negatively impact our investigation and discourage such Boeing employees from providing NTSB with information relevant to this investigation,” she wrote. “To that end, I have instructed NTSB to utilize our authority to protect the identities of the door crew and other front-line employees who come forward with information relevant to the investigation.”

Boeing, in response, said it will work with the NTSB to help the probe.

“We will continue supporting this investigation in the transparent and proactive fashion we have supported all regulatory inquiries into this accident,” Boeing said, in a statement.

The committee did not have an immediate comment on the letter.

Boeing Recorded Over Footage of Faulty Door Plug Being Installed on 737 Max 9

Edith Olmsted
Wed, March 13, 2024 

Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images

The federal investigation into a loose door plug on a Boeing 737 Air Max 9 which caused a frightening mid-air blow out, has come to yet another standstill as investigators learned that Boeing recorded over security footage of the door plug being installed.

In a letter from Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, she detailed the new roadblock in the search for the names of employees who worked on the Alaska Airlines aircraft, which experienced a mid-flight emergency on Jan. 5 when a panel of the fuselage blew out.

“To date, we still do not know who performed the work to open, reinstall, and close the door plug on the accident aircraft,” she wrote in the letter. “Boeing has informed us that they are unable to find the records documenting this work.”

The letter, addressed to Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Ted Cruz (R-TX), follows up on a Senate hearing Homendy attended last week, at which she said Boeing had not fully cooperated with the NTSB probe, and were withholding key documents.

At the hearing, Homendy said that NTSB investigators were in the process of interviewing employees at a facility in Renton, Washington where Boeing Max planes are assembled. Homendy wrote that after verbally requesting the footage from the facility, investigators were notified that the footage was “overwritten,” meaning that the tape used to record it was reused, and the original footage deleted.

“The absence of those records will complicate the NTSB’s investigation moving forward,” she wrote.

Homendy wrote that she received a general list of employees from the company but had specifically requested the names from Boeing CEO David Calhoun. “He stated he was unable to provide that information and maintained that Boeing has no records of the work being performed,” Homendy wrote.

She wrote that the NTSB was not seeking the list of names for “punitive purposes,” but wanted to interview them about quality assurance processes and safety culture at Boeing.

She wrote that she’d become “increasingly concerned that the focus on the names of individual front-line workers will negatively impact our investigation,” because employees would be too afraid to cooperate with the NTSB.

On Tuesday, Boeing released a memo vowing “immediate actions” to address issues in its manufacturing process.

Boeing security footage related to 737-9 MAX investigation was overwritten, NTSB says

Tyler Slauson

FOX
Wed, March 13, 2024 


SEATTLE - The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said its investigation into the 737-9 MAX door plug fallout has been complicated after Boeing informed the agency that security video investigators requested had been overwritten.

According to the NTSB, they still have not been informed by Boeing who performed maintenance work to open, reinstall and close the door plug that flew off of Alaska Airlines flight 1282 over Oregon on Jan. 5, 2024.

The letter from NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy was sent March 13 to Sen. Maria Cantwell and Sen. Ted Cruz of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

"Boeing has informed us that they are unable to find the records documenting this work. A verbal request was made by our investigators for security camera footage to help obtain this information; however, they were informed the footage was overwritten. The absence of those records will complicate the NTSB’s investigation moving forward."

Homendy said the 737-9 plane underwent river repairs at Boeing's Renton, Washington facility in Sept. 2023 before it was delivered to Alaska Airlines.

"The door plug that failed during Alaska 1282’s incident flight was opened so that this rivet repair work could be performed," she said.


The NTSB released these images of investigators inspecting the door plug and the aircraft.(NTSB)

Investigators said on Feb. 2, Boeing provided the names of workers who may have information on who performed maintenance on the door plug.

Homendy said on March 2 investigators requested the names of all employees who reported to the door crew manager in Sept. 2023. When they received the list, it did not identify which employees perform door plug work at the facility. Homendy said she called Boeing Chief Executive Officer David Calhoun and asked for the names of people who performed that work, but he told her Boeing has no records of the work being done.

"It is important to note that the NTSB is not in any way seeking the names of employees who performed the work on the door plug for punitive purposes," Homendy said in the letter. "We want to speak with them to learn about Boeing’s quality-assurance processes and safety culture. Our only intent is to identify deficiencies and recommend safety improvements so accidents like this never happen again. In fact, our nation’s aviation record is so safe precisely because of our well-established culture of non-punitive reporting."

Homendy went on to say that she instructed the NTSB to use its authority to protect any front-line employees who come forward with information regarding the investigation. She encouraged anyone with info to reach out to witness@ntsb.gov.

Boeing provided the following statement to FOX 13 News: "We will continue supporting this investigation in the transparent and proactive fashion we have supported all regulatory inquiries into this accident. We have worked hard to honor the rules about the release of investigative information in an environment of intense interest from our employees, customers, and other stakeholders, and we will continue our efforts to do so."

Boeing promises changes

Responding to a U.S. government audit, Boeing said Tuesday that it would work with employees found to have violated company manufacturing procedures to make sure they understand instructions for their jobs.

The aircraft maker detailed its latest steps to correct lapses in quality in a memo to employees from Stan Deal, president of Boeing's commercial plane division.

The memo went out after the Federal Aviation Administration finished a six-week review of the company's manufacturing processes.

The FAA reviewed 89 aspects of production at Boeing's plant in Renton, Washington, and found the company failed 33 of them, according to a person familiar with the report. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details that have not been publicly released – although they were reported earlier by The New York Times, which saw a slide presentation on the government's audit.

"The vast majority" of violations found by the FAA involved workers not following Boeing’s approved procedures, Deal said in his memo.

Deal said the company will take remedial steps that include "working with each employee noted with a non-compliance during the audit to ensure they fully understand the work instructions and procedures."

Boeing will also add weekly compliance checks for all work teams in the Renton factory, where Max jets are assembled, he said.

Deal acknowledged a recent conclusion by a panel of government and industry experts that found Boeing’s procedures for ensuring safety were too complicated and changed too often.

"Our teams are working to simplify and streamline our processes and address the panel’s recommendations," he told staff.

The day before the blowout on Alaska Airlines flight 1282, engineers and technicians at the airline wanted to remove the plane from service to examine a warning light tied to the plane’s pressurization system, but the airline kept flying the plane and scheduled a maintenance check for late the following night, The New York Times reported Tuesday. Before that could happen, however, a door-plug panel blew off the jet 16,000 feet over Oregon.

Alaska told The Associated Press that the maintenance plan "was in line with all processes and procedures. Nothing required or suggested that the aircraft needed to be pulled from service."

Bret Oestreich, president of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, the union for technicians at Alaska, said there was nothing unusual in Alaska's handling of the matter. He said the warning light does not indicate the location of a possible pressurization issue, and mechanics had been unable to pinpoint a problem after the light tripped on three earlier flights.

The earlier cabin-pressurization warnings caused Alaska to stop using the plane on flights to Hawaii. A few days after the blowout, National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said the warnings were unrelated to the accident. A preliminary report pointed to four bolts that were missing after a repair job at the Boeing factory.

Besides the ongoing FAA and NTSB probes, Boeing faces a Justice Department investigation into whether its recent problems — including the Jan. 5 blowout of an emergency door panel from an Alaska Airlines jet that had taken off from Portland, Oregon — violate terms of a settlement the company reached in 2021 to avoid criminal prosecution after two crashes of Max jets in 2018 in Indonesia and 2019 in Ethiopia killed 346 people.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.


Boeing security footage of work on jet with failed door plug is unavailable, NTSB says

Breck Dumas
Wed, March 13, 2024 

Boeing says it cannot find the documentation confirming the September repairs its employees conducted on the 737 Max 9 that had a door plug fly off during an Alaska Airlines flight in January, and claims security footage that might show the work being conducted was "overwritten," the head of the National Transportation Safety Board revealed Wednesday.

NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy wrote in a letter to U.S. senators that the agency still does not know who performed the rivet work on the aircraft, which involved opening, reinstalling and closing the door plug that failed months later.

A plastic sheet covers an area of the fuselage of the Alaska Airlines N704AL Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft outside a hangar at Portland International Airport on January 8, 2024 in Portland, Oregon.

"Boeing has informed us that they are unable to find the records documenting this work," Homendy wrote. "A verbal request was made by our investigators for security camera footage to help obtain this information; however, they were informed the footage was overwritten."

The NTSB chief added, "The absence of those records will complicate the NTSB’s investigation moving forward."

UNITED TELLS BOEING TO STOP MAKING THE MAX 10S THE AIRLINE ORDERED: REPORT

Homendy said the NTSB first asked Boeing for information pertaining to the repairs on Jan. 9, days after the door plug failure. Last week, Boeing handed over a list of employees that reported to the door crew manager at the time of the repairs, but did not identify which employees conducted the work.


Dave Calhoun, CEO of Boeing, leaves a meeting with Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., in Hart Building, on Wednesday, January 24, 2024. Calhoun was meeting with senators about recent safety issues including the grounding of the 737 MAX 9 planes.

"After NTSB received this list, I called Boeing Chief Executive Officer David Calhoun and asked for the names of the people who performed the work," Homendy wrote. "He stated he was unable to provide that information and maintained that Boeing has no records of the work being performed."

When reached by FOX Business for comment, a Boeing official said the company maintains video for a rolling 30-day basis, which they said is consistent with standard practice.

"We will continue supporting this investigation in the transparent and proactive fashion we have supported all regulatory inquiries into this accident," the company said in an official statement.

"We have worked hard to honor the rules about the release of investigative information in an environment of intense interest from our employees, customers, and other stakeholders, and we will continue our efforts to do so." Boeing added.

ALASKA AIRLINES PLANE HAD DOOR PANEL BLOW OUT AHEAD OF SCHEDULED SAFETY CHECK: REPORT

Investigators found that four key bolts were missing from the door plug to the Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft when it took off from Portland, Oregon, on Jan. 5. The panel blew off at 16,000 feet, which caused the cabin to depressurize before the flight returned safely to Portland International Airport.

The Boeing regional headquarters in Arlington, Virgina, on April 29, 2020.

As a federal probe into Boeing’s safety measures continues, the New York Times reported on Tuesday that on the day before the blowout, some engineers and technicians at Alaska Airlines became concerned over a warning light that indicated an issue with the plane’s pressurization system.

Instead of removing the plane from service, the newspaper reported that the airline decided to continue flying the plane and scheduled a maintenance check for the night of Jan. 5.

The airline told the Associated Press that the warning did not require or suggest that the aircraft needed to be taken out of service, and that its maintenance plan "was in line with all processes and procedures."

FOX Business' Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.

Boeing promises changes after getting poor grades in a government audit of manufacturing quality

DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer,

KIRO 7 News Staff
Tue, March 12, 2024 

Responding to a U.S. government audit, Boeing said Tuesday that it would work with employees found to have violated company manufacturing procedures to make sure they understand instructions for their jobs.

The aircraft maker detailed its latest steps to correct lapses in quality in a memo to employees from Stan Deal, president of Boeing’s commercial plane division.

The memo went out after the Federal Aviation Administration finished a six-week review of the company’s manufacturing processes for the 737 Max jetliner after a panel blew off one of the planes during an Alaska Airlines flight on Jan. 5.

The FAA reviewed 89 aspects of production at Boeing’s plant in Renton, Washington, and found the company failed 33 of them, according to a person familiar with the report. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details that have not been publicly released – although they were reported earlier by The New York Times, which saw a slide presentation on the government’s audit.

“The vast majority” of violations found by the FAA involved workers not following Boeing’s approved procedures, Deal said in his memo.

Deal said the company will take remedial steps that include “working with each employee noted with a non-compliance during the audit to ensure they fully understand the work instructions and procedures.”

Boeing will also add weekly compliance checks for all work teams in the Renton factory, where Max jets are assembled, he said.

Deal acknowledged a recent conclusion by a panel of government and industry experts that found Boeing’s procedures for ensuring safety were too complicated and changed too often.

“Our teams are working to simplify and streamline our processes and address the panel’s recommendations,” he told staff.

The day before the blowout on Alaska Airlines flight 1282, engineers and technicians at the airline wanted to remove the plane from service to examine a warning light tied to the plane’s pressurization system, but the airline kept flying the plane and scheduled a maintenance check for late the following night, The New York Times reported Tuesday. Before that could happen, however, a door-plug panel blew off the jet 16,000 feet (4,800 meters) over Oregon.

Alaska told The Associated Press that the maintenance plan “was in line with all processes and procedures. Nothing required or suggested that the aircraft needed to be pulled from service.”

Bret Oestreich, president of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, the union for technicians at Alaska, said there was nothing unusual in Alaska’s handling of the matter. He said the warning light does not indicate the location of a possible pressurization issue, and mechanics had been unable to pinpoint a problem after the light tripped on three earlier flights.

The earlier cabin-pressurization warnings caused Alaska to stop using the plane on flights to Hawaii. A few days after the blowout, National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said the warnings were unrelated to the accident. A preliminary report pointed to four bolts that were missing after a repair job at the Boeing factory.

Besides the ongoing FAA and NTSB probes, Boeing faces a Justice Department investigation into whether its recent problems — including the Jan. 5 blowout of an emergency door panel from an Alaska Airlines jet that had taken off from Portland, Oregon — violate terms of a settlement the company reached in 2021 to avoid criminal prosecution after two crashes of Max jets in 2018 in Indonesia and 2019 in Ethiopia killed 346 people.

Separately on Tuesday, Boeing reported that it received orders for 15 jetliners in February and delivered 27 planes, including two Max jets each to Southwest Airlines and United Airlines. TD Cowen analyst Cai von Rumohr called the deliveries “anemic” but not surprising because of increased FAA scrutiny of the company.

The slowdown in deliveries is putting Boeing farther behind European rival Airbus, which delivered 49 planes last month, and becoming increasingly frustrating for airlines.

Southwest said it might have to reduce its growth, as it now expects to receive fewer Max jets than it planned because of Boeing’s struggles.

Shares of Arlington, Virginia-based Boeing Co. closed Tuesday down more than 4%.

Boeing Deliveries Trail Airbus as 737 Max Crisis Slows Factories

Ryan Beene
Tue, March 12, 2024 


(Bloomberg) -- Boeing Co.’s aircraft deliveries trailed rival Airbus SE’s last month as the US planemaker dealt with the growing fallout from an early-January accident that has since plunged the company into crisis.

Boeing handed over 27 airplanes to customers in February, lagging the 49 notched by Airbus, according to data posted on the US company’s website. Shipments from the US planemaker came in one shy of the same month last year and were in line with the 27 jets it delivered in January.

The showing will likely do little to calm investors as Boeing contends with mounting pressure from US authorities after a fuselage panel blew off a 737 Max 9 operated by Alaska Airlines in early January. Boeing shares have lost more than a quarter of their value this year, the worst performance by far in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The Federal Aviation Administration imposed a cap on production of Boeing’s cash-cow 737 Max that will remain in effect until the agency is confident in Boeing’s quality assurances. Those restrictions have rippled out to customers, with Southwest Airlines Co. on Tuesday cutting its 2024 capacity plans because of lower Boeing deliveries, and Alaska Air Group Inc. saying separately that uncertainties around the timing of aircraft deliveries have left its planning in flux.

US prosecutors have convened a grand jury as part of a Justice Department probe of the accident, Bloomberg News reported on Monday. US aviation regulators, meanwhile, continue to closely scrutinize Boeing’s factories as they bolster their oversight of the company’s quality practices in the wake of the mid-air blowout.

Mike Whitaker, FAA’s top official, said Monday that he aims to define milestones with Boeing over the next 30 days, as part of a three-month deadline for the planemaker to show that it has fixed its processes.

Boeing failed 33 of 39 factory audits initiated by the FAA in the wake of the January incident, and its biggest supplier, Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc., failed to perform on 7 of 13 audits, the New York Times reported.

The audit report and airlines’ lowered expectations show “more trouble in Renton,” Jefferies analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu wrote note to clients, referring to Boeing’s Seattle-area factory that builds the 737 Max.

Boeing shares slid as much as 4.5% following Monday’s 3% decline. The stock fell 4.2% as of 10:21 a.m. in New York, extending its year-to-date decline to about 29%.

February deliveries included 17 737 Max planes - six to airlines in China — according to Boeing. The company also delivered seven 787 Dreamliner twin-aisle jets last month, with three going to Etihad Airways.

The planemaker logged 15 gross orders, including 10 737 Max jets from customers the company didn’t identify.

MORE BOEING NEWS:

Boeing whistleblower John Barnett found dead days after testifying against company: report

Former Boeing employee files lawsuit alleging sexual assault, harassment after her transition

Boeing could face criminal investigation from the Department of Justice

Boeing confirms it’s in talks to buy Spirit AeroSystems, its key supplier on the troubled 737 Max

Boeing given 90 days by FAA to come up with a plan to improve safety and quality of manufacturing

Boeing promises changes after getting poor grades in a government audit of manufacturing quality

DAVID KOENIG
Updated Tue, March 12, 2024 

IAM Says Contract Negotiations For Iam Members At Boeing In The Pacific Northwest Begun


Responding to a U.S. government audit, Boeing said Tuesday that it would work with employees found to have violated company manufacturing procedures to make sure they understand instructions for their jobs.

The aircraft maker detailed its latest steps to correct lapses in quality in a memo to employees from Stan Deal, president of Boeing's commercial plane division.

The memo went out after the Federal Aviation Administration finished a six-week review of the company's manufacturing processes for the 737 Max jetliner after a panel blew off one of the planes during an Alaska Airlines flight on Jan. 5.

The FAA reviewed 89 aspects of production at Boeing's plant in Renton, Washington, and found the company failed 33 of them, according to a person familiar with the report. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details that have not been publicly released – although they were reported earlier by The New York Times, which saw a slide presentation on the government's audit.

“The vast majority” of violations found by the FAA involved workers not following Boeing’s approved procedures, Deal said in his memo.

Deal said the company will take remedial steps that include “working with each employee noted with a non-compliance during the audit to ensure they fully understand the work instructions and procedures.”

Boeing will also add weekly compliance checks for all work teams in the Renton factory, where Max jets are assembled, he said.

Deal acknowledged a recent conclusion by a panel of government and industry experts that found Boeing’s procedures for ensuring safety were too complicated and changed too often.

“Our teams are working to simplify and streamline our processes and address the panel’s recommendations,” he told staff.

The day before the blowout on Alaska Airlines flight 1282, engineers and technicians at the airline wanted to remove the plane from service to examine a warning light tied to the plane’s pressurization system, but the airline kept flying the plane and scheduled a maintenance check for late the following night, The New York Times reported Tuesday. Before that could happen, however, a door-plug panel blew off the jet 16,000 feet (4,800 meters) over Oregon.

Alaska told The Associated Press that the maintenance plan “was in line with all processes and procedures. Nothing required or suggested that the aircraft needed to be pulled from service.”

Bret Oestreich, president of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, the union for technicians at Alaska, said there was nothing unusual in Alaska's handling of the matter. He said the warning light does not indicate the location of a possible pressurization issue, and mechanics had been unable to pinpoint a problem after the light tripped on three earlier flights.

The earlier cabin-pressurization warnings caused Alaska to stop using the plane on flights to Hawaii. A few days after the blowout, National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said the warnings were unrelated to the accident. A preliminary report pointed to four bolts that were missing after a repair job at the Boeing factory.

Besides the ongoing FAA and NTSB probes, Boeing faces a Justice Department investigation into whether its recent problems — including the Jan. 5 blowout of an emergency door panel from an Alaska Airlines jet that had taken off from Portland, Oregon — violate terms of a settlement the company reached in 2021 to avoid criminal prosecution after two crashes of Max jets in 2018 in Indonesia and 2019 in Ethiopia killed 346 people.

Separately on Tuesday, Boeing reported that it received orders for 15 jetliners in February and delivered 27 planes, including two Max jets each to Southwest Airlines and United Airlines. TD Cowen analyst Cai von Rumohr called the deliveries “anemic” but not surprising because of increased FAA scrutiny of the company.

The slowdown in deliveries is putting Boeing farther behind European rival Airbus, which delivered 49 planes last month, and becoming increasingly frustrating for airlines.

Southwest said it might have to reduce its growth, as it now expects to receive fewer Max jets than it planned because of Boeing's struggles.

Shares of Arlington, Virginia-based Boeing Co. closed Tuesday down more than 4%.

Boeing will add compliance checks, equipment audits at 737 factory, memo says

David Shepardson
Tue, March 12, 2024 

 An aerial photo shows Boeing 737 MAX airplanes parked on the tarmac at the Boeing Factory in Renton



By David Shepardson

(Reuters) - Boeing is adding weekly compliance checks for every 737 work area and additional audits of equipment to reduce quality problems, the company said in a memo to employees on Tuesday.

The memo from Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Stan Deal following the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's six-week audit of Boeing's 737 MAX manufacturing processes that faulted numerous company processes. The FAA has curbed Boeing production following the mid-air panel blowout on a new Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 jet on January 5.

"Our teams are working to simplify and streamline our processes and address the panel’s recommendations," the memo said, noting that employees have to focus on looking out for safety hazards and follow manufacturing processes precisely. "We will not hesitate in stopping a production line or keeping an airplane in position."

The memo comes a day after FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker disclosed details of the audit found numerous quality issues and the planemaker must have employees "have the right tools and training, having the right engineering drawings and assembling the aircraft in the proper order ... It's really plant floor hygiene."

Deal said FAA inspectors went deep into the 737 Renton factories in January and February to audit production and quality control and found the "vast majority of our audit non-compliances involved not following our approved processes and procedures."

The weekly compliance checks for 737 work sites start March 1 and Boeing is dedicating time in each shift for mechanics to complete compliance and foreign object debris sweeps.

Boeing is also auditing all toolboxes and removing any tools not fully compliant and will conduct additional 737 program audits to ensure full compliance.

Deal said workers must "precisely follow every step of our manufacturing procedures and processes. These have been designed to ensure conformance to specifications and compliance to regulatory requirements."

Deal also said with Spirit AeroSystems Boeing has "implemented additional inspection points at their facility in Wichita. As such, starting March 1, teams there have been ensuring first-pass quality before any fuselages are shipped to Renton."

(Reporting By David Shepardson and David Gaffen; Editing by Franklin Paul and Nick Zieminski)

Boeing’s legal woes are becoming a problem for the entire airline industry

Alexis Keenan ·Reporter
Wed, March 13, 2024 

Boeing’s (BA) legal problems are mounting. They are starting to become a problem for the rest of the airline industry too.

Alaska Airlines (ALK) said Tuesday its 2024 capacity estimates are "in flux" due to federal scrutiny of Boeing. United Airlines (UAL) said it asked Boeing to stop building planes not yet certified by the FAA. Southwest Airlines (LUV) said it cut its capacity forecast, citing fewer Boeing deliveries than expected.

"Boeing needs to become a better company,” Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan said Tuesday as his company's stock dropped nearly 15%.

Southwest Airlines talked Tuesday about how its business is being affected by the problems of Boeing and its stock dropped nearly 15%. (Matt York/AP Photo, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Boeing's challenges are a problem for major airlines "because they can’t grow as much as they originally thought," Helane Becker, a TD Cowen senior research analyst, said on Yahoo Finance Live Tuesday. She predicted the airlines will do “what they always do, which is adapt.”

Boeing’s increased exposure to aircraft delivery delays and legal risks is spooking its own investors, too. Its stock fell 4.5% Tuesday after the New York Times revealed details of an FAA audit that followed an accident involving a door “plug” on an Alaska 737 Max-9 flight on Jan. 5.

The incident unleashed widened regulatory scrutiny and temporarily grounded Boeing's 737 Max 9 planes in the US. The Department of Justice has reportedly also recently launched an investigation into the incident.

An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found that four bolts meant to fasten the Alaska door plug in place were missing and likely not installed at the time the aircraft was delivered to the airline.

The FAA audit, according to the New York Times, found that Boeing's Max production practices failed 33 of the FAA’s 89 quality control requirements. Boeing’s supplier Spirit AeroSystems, which makes the fuselage for the Max aircraft family, failed seven of the regulator’s 14 audit checks.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stan Deal said in a memo to employees Tuesday that "the vast majority" of the noncompliances in the audit "involved not following our approved processes and procedures."

The Alaska Airlines blowout in January led dozens of passengers on board the flight to file lawsuits against Boeing.

Those passengers are seeking punitive damages — meant solely to punish Boeing for the alleged production lapses — plus damages to compensate them for their alleged physical and emotional injuries, including stress, anxiety, trauma, PTSD, and hearing damage.

“Boeing’s current and former CEO and senior leadership have prioritized profits and share price over the safety of the flying public despite repeated design, manufacturing, production, testing, and systemic quality-control issues and defects with the Boeing 737 Max aircraft,” Mark Lindquist, a lawyer who sued Boeing on behalf of 26 of those Alaska Airlines passengers, said.
The long legal road ahead

Past history suggests it will take years to untangle all of the legal challenges. Boeing, after all, has faced a mountain of litigation and government investigations before.

A prior round of trouble for Boeing began in 2018 and 2019 with two crashes of Max-8 jets operated by Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines. Dozens of lawsuits followed.

Families of victims who died in the crashes alleged Boeing had recklessly installed and failed to fully inform pilots about a new anti-stall system on its 737 Max-8 planes called “MCAS” (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System).

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun. (Aaron Schwartz/NurPhoto via Getty Images) (NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Boeing shareholders sued, waging similar claims. Once federal authorities confirmed that the MCAS system played a role in both crashes, the Justice Department filed criminal charges against Boeing, accusing the company of criminally defrauding the FAA.

To avoid liability, Boeing entered a deferred prosecution agreement in January 2021. The agreement requires it to compensate airlines and victims’ families and steer clear of reporting and transparency lapses for three years.

The agreement is suspected to have piqued the DOJ's attention again. On Sunday, the Wall Street Journal reported the department had opened a criminal investigation into the Alaska blowout.
Other headaches

Boeing’s current troubles extend to other aircraft too. In February, pilots for United Airlines reported that a 737 Max-8’s controls jammed during a landing at New Jersey’s Newark airport. A federal investigation into the incident is now underway.

In another report in February, the FAA documented that de-icing equipment installed on 737 Max and 787 Dreamliner aircraft could decrease engine thrust.

Compounding the bad news, a 787 Dreamliner flying from Australia to New Zealand and operated by LATAM plummeted during a flight this week. Roughly 50 passengers are said to have reported injuries with one passenger in serious condition.

What caused the drop in altitude is not yet known. According to Reuters, passengers said one of the aircraft’s pilots communicated that he had temporarily lost control.

Alexis Keenan is a legal reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow Alexis on Twitter @alexiskweed.


'We all need Boeing to be better': Airline bosses are getting annoyed that Boeing's problems are derailing their plans

Pete Syme
Wed, March 13, 2024 

A Boeing 737 Max.JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images

Boeing's 737 Max 10 and Max 7 jets are yet to be certified by regulators.


United Airlines has taken the Max 10 out of its plans, even with 277 on order.


"We all need Boeing to be better," said Southwest's CEO.

Boeing's troubles are disrupting airlines' plans to grow capacity as the planemaker suffers from delays.

The 737 Max 10 and Max 7, the longest and shortest version of Boeing's narrowbody jet, are yet to be certified by regulators.

Increased scrutiny of Boeing's processes following January's Alaska Airlines blowout has made the pathway harder. Boeing withdrew a safety-exemption request for the Max 7 in the wake of the incident, pushing the certification timeline further back.

Bloomberg reported that several airline chiefs had similar stories about delays as they spoke at a JPMorgan conference on Tuesday.

Scott Kirby, United's CEO, said he'd told Boeing to stop building Max 10s for the carrier because of uncertainty about when it will be certified, per Bloomberg.

The airline's chief financial officer, Mike Leskinen, said last month United is "deeply disappointed" in Boeing due to the delays. He said that instead of the Max 10, United would have more Max 9 and Airbus A321neo jets, per Reuters.

United — which is Boeing's biggest customer — has 277 Max 10 jets on order with options for another 200, Leskinen said in its fourth-quarter earnings call in January.

The delays create problems for United's plan to expand its capacity with 800 new jets by 2032.

During the JPMorgan conference, Delta CEO Ed Bastian said deliveries for its Max 10 jets could come as late as 2027, Bloomberg reported.

And Southwest said it doesn't expect to receive any of its 737 Max 7 aircraft this year, per the outlet. It reportedly expected 79 jets overall this year, but will now receive 46.

Last month, Southwest announced it will suspend all new pilot hiring after March 31 due to the production delays, Simple Flying reported.

"We all need Boeing to be stronger two years from now, five years from now, 10 years from now," Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said, per Bloomberg. "That takes precedent over delivery delays. We all need Boeing to be better."

Following the blowout, the Federal Aviation Administration has prevented Boeing from expanding production of the Max — capped at 38 jets a month until the regulator is satisfied Boeing is following all the rules for quality control.

The American manufacturer delivered 27 jets last month, compared to Airbus' 49.

But the European planemaker's backlog means there aren't enough delivery slots for would-be customers to switch over from Boeing.

A Boeing spokesperson told Business Insider: "We are squarely focused on implementing changes to strengthen quality across our production system and taking the necessary time to deliver high-quality airplanes that meet all regulatory requirements. We continue to stay in close contact with our valued customers about these issues and our actions to address them."

CRIMINAL MONOPOLY CAPITALI$M

Boeing broke an agreement over the 737 Max crashes that killed 346 people, and could now be prosecuted, the Justice Department says

Pete Syme
Wed, May 15, 2024 

In 2021, Boeing reached a deal with prosecutors after 346 people died in two 737 Max crashes.


The Justice Department said Tuesday that Boeing violated that deal and is now subject to prosecution.


It worsens the crisis at the planemaker which began with January's Alaska Airlines blowout.

Boeing could face criminal charges after the Justice Department determined the planemaker violated a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA).

The DPA, reached in 2021, meant Boeing didn't face charges related to the deaths of 346 people in two 737 Max 8 crashes in 2018 and 2019. As part of the settlement, Boeing paid $2.5 billion and promised to strengthen its compliance program.

The DPA expired just two days after January's Alaska Airlines blowout, which has renewed scrutiny of Boeing's quality-control processes. Safety investigators said the 737 Max involved had left Boeing's factory missing key bolts.

In a Tuesday court filing seen by Business Insider, the Justice Department said Boeing violated the DPA, "by failing to design, implement, and enforce a compliance and ethics program to prevent and detect violations of the US fraud laws throughout its operations."

It added: "For failing to fulfill completely the terms of and obligations under the DPA, Boeing is subject to prosecution by the United States."

The news amplifies the crisis at Boeing, which has seen its CEO resign and its reputation worsen with airline customers. Its share price is down 28% since the start of the year.

Boeing has until June 13 to respond to the DoJ. In a statement shared with BI, the planemaker said: "We believe that we have honored the terms of that agreement, and look forward to the opportunity to respond to the Department on this issue."

"As we do so, we will engage with the Department with the utmost transparency, as we have throughout the entire term of the agreement, including in response to their questions following the Alaska Airlines 1282 accident," it added.

The Justice Department is continuing to meet with the families of victims of the 2018 and 2019 crashes, as it determines whether to bring charges against Boeing.

Robert Clifford, an attorney for the families of victims of the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash, said in an email: "This is a way for Boeing to be held criminally responsible in court. It's what the families have wanted. They want answers as to what really happened in the crashes and for the safety of the public to be protected."

The Justice Department told the court it will decide whether to prosecute Boeing by July 7.

DOJ: Boeing violated deal reached to avoid 737 MAX prosecution

Seana Smith and Brad Smith
Wed, May 15, 2024 

The Justice Department found that Boeing (BA) violated the terms of the 2021 agreement it reached to avoid prosecution over the two deadly crashes involving its 737 MAX jets. Prosecutors must decide by July 7 whether to file charges against the aircraft company.

Boeing has until June 13 to challenge the Justice Department's findings, according to The Wall Street Journal, and Boeing believes it has honored the terms of the agreement.

Despite this latest news, Wall Street remains bullish on the stock, feeling optimistic about the company's future as it comes under new leadership.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Morning Brief.

This post was written by Melanie Riehl
Video Transcript

Boeing has violated the terms of the agreement it reached to avoid prosecution over the two deadly crashes involving its 737 max jets, according to the Justice Department.

Prosecutors now have until July 7th to decide whether or not to file charges against the plane maker.

You're taking a look at chairs of Boeing here.

Year to date, they're down by about 30%.

Of course, this has been a year with even more swirling around the company, especially following the fuselage blowout of an Alaska Airlines flight separate from the 2737 max crashes.

That really started the spotlight of scrutiny over the internal culture that came to light of negligence and then, additionally, uh, ousted CEO thereafter and Dennis Muhlenberg at the time.

And then you had Dave Calhoun, and now he is on the way out as well.

And so all of these things considered, it will be interesting to see what the Justice Department ultimately has in terms of its ruling as a result of this deal that they had reached, I mean a deal that was essentially a slap on the wrist, given the crash.

The proceedings that took place thereafter And, of course, the families impacted as well from those two deadly crashes.

And Boeing has about a month until June 13th to challenge the department's findings here.

That was, according to a letter that The Wall Street Journal cited and Boeing, at least from the statement that Wall Street Journal got excuse me, looking to test some of these findings here.

They they believe that they have honoured the terms of the 2021 agreement.

No surprise.

We obviously expected them to say that, saying that they are going to engage the department with the utmost transparency, as we have throughout the entire term of the agreement, including in their in response to their questions following the Alaska Airlines 1282 incident accident.

So again, Boeing standing by what they have done here over the last several months just in terms of upholding that agreement that they had agreed to back in 2021.

But again, I think this just adds even more clouds here that are over that aren't over hiding here for the stock When you talk about the fact that analysts largely remaining actually bullish on Boeing, given the current valuation given the underperformance that we've seen since the start of the year.

It's going to come under new management.

We are going, you get a CEO.

And many of the analysts that we have talked to here in Yahoo Finance remain optimistic on Boeing's business going forward.

I think the next couple of months might be a bit murky as we do work out the details as we do, I get more and more here.

But again, we have seen that massive underperformance of Boeing stocks since the start of the year.

And as a result, despite all these issues, it's been interesting that Wall Street has remained largely bullish on this name, right and largely because Boeing had already set aside even more than they had pledged within the settlement.

It was about a $500 million settlement that they had made for the families specifically in the fund there.

Boeing had already set aside about $2.5 billion there, so it's really just kind of looking at what they're already doing on their own balance sheets versus what's actually coming forward within the rulings and of course this is just another step in that as well
View comments (18)

Feds warn Boeing of criminal charges after airliner ‘failed ‘ to improve plane safety following 737 crashes

Amelia Neath
Wed, May 15, 2024 

Feds warn Boeing of criminal charges after airliner ‘failed ‘ to improve plane safety following 737 crashes


Federal officials warned Boeing about criminal charges after the airline failed to improve plane safety and adhere to a settlement after deadly 737 aircraft crashes, prosecutors said

Five years ago, Boeing agreed to pay $2.5b and make safety improvements after two new 737 Max jets crashed in separate incidents, within the space of five months, one in Indonesia in 2018 and one in Ethiopia in 2019, killing a total of 346 people.

But, now the feds claim that Boeing has violated that deal and it could face further prosecution after a string of high-profile safety incidents involving its planes, including an incident in mid-January when an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9’s door plug blew off, causing the grounding of all 171 MAX 9 jets by the FAA while it investigated.

“For failing to fulfill completely the terms of and obligations under the [deferred prosecution agreement], Boeing is subject to prosecution by the United States for any federal criminal violation of which the United States has knowledge,” Department of Justice lawyers wrote in a letter to a federal judge.

Rescuers work at the scene of an Ethiopian Airlines flight of a Boeing 737 Max 8 plane crash near Bishoftu, Ethiopia in March 2019 (Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

It is now up in the air as to whether Boeing could face prosecution, and it is unclear if the government would actually go ahead and prosecute the company.

“The Government is determining how it will proceed in this matter,” the Justice Department said in the court filing, according to The Associated Press.

Boeing will have until 13 June to respond to the government’s allegation. Upon doing so, the justice department said it would consider the company’s explanation “in determining whether to pursue prosecution.”

Boeing disputes the DOJ’s findings, claiming the company has “honored the terms of the agreement” and “look forward to the opportunity to respond to the Department on this issue.”

“As we do so, we will engage with the Department with the utmost transparency, as we have throughout the entire term of the agreement, including in response to their questions following the Alaska Airlines 1282 accident,” a spokesperson for Boeing told The Independent.

Indonesian investigators inspect the wreckage of an engine from the fatal Lion Air Flight JT 610 recovered from the sea at the Tanjung Priok in November 2018 (Getty Images)

In 2018, 189 people lost their lives while on a Lion Air flight from Indonesia plunged into the Java Sea just 13 minutes after take-off. Just five months after this horrific incident, an Ethiopian Airlines took off from Addis Ababa, when six minutes in, it crashed only 30 miles from the airport, killing all 157 people on board.

When investigations into the disaster crashes were underway, authorities pointed to a flight-control system that Boeing added to the Max without telling pilots or airlines, which Boeing did not overhaul until after the second crash.

After a series of negotiations, the government agreed not to prosecute Boeing on a charge of defrauding the United States by deceiving regulators about the flight system. The settlement included a $243.6 million fine, a $500 million fund for victim compensation, and nearly $1.8 billion to those airlines whose Max jets were grounded for nearly two years.

Prosecutors said they will be meeting with families of passengers who died in both Max disasters on May 31.

Paul Cassell, a lawyer who represents families of passengers in the Ethiopia crash, said the Justice Department’s allegation that Boeing violated the settlement terms is “a positive first step, and for the families, a long time coming.”

“But we need to see further action from DOJ to hold Boeing accountable, and plan to use our meeting on May 31 to explain in more details what we believe would be a satisfactory remedy to Boeing’s ongoing criminal conduct,” Mr Cassell added to The Associated Press.

Boeing 737 Max airplanes sit parked at Boeing Field in 2020 in Seattle, Washington after they were grounded worldwide since March 2019 after two deadly crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia (Getty)

The agreement was thrust back into the spotlight after a string of safety incidents involving Boeing planes in recent months. The most notable was a door plug blew out at 16,000 feet on an Alaska Airlines flight. That led to a federal investigation into the incident and Boeing.

Former workers and whistleblowers have accused the company of systematically degrading the quality of its manufacturing and the expertise of its workforce in pursuit of short-term profits for shareholders.

Last week, a second whistleblower within Boeing’s supply chain died after alleging the company had cut corners while building its 737 Max jetliner. Reports indicated the man had died of pneumonia caused by a flu infection.

In an email to employees last month, Scott Stocker, the head of Boeing’s 787 program, blamed the missed inspections on “misconduct” by workers and said that those responsible had received “swift and serious corrective action.”

Boeing Has Violated Prosecution Deal for 737 Max Crashes, DOJ Says

AJ McDougall
Tue, May 14, 2024 at 7:59 PM MDT·2 min read



Moritz Frankenberg/picture alliance via Getty Images


The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday notified Boeing that it violated terms of a settlement that allowed it to duck criminal prosecution after two deadly 737 Max crashes, a development that leaves the company vulnerable to potential future charges.

The aerospace company breached the 2021 deferred prosecution agreement by failing to “design, implement, and enforce a compliance and ethics program to prevent and detect violations of the U.S. fraud laws throughout its operations,” federal prosecutors said in a letter filed in a Texas court.

Prosecutors said they had not decided what to do next, adding that they would alert the court about any new charges no later than July 7. Boeing has until June 13 to respond.

In a statement to The Daily Beast on Tuesday, Boeing confirmed that it had received the Justice Department’s letter.

“We believe that we have honored the terms of that agreement, and look forward to the opportunity to respond to the Department on this issue,” it said. “As we do so, we will engage with the Department with the utmost transparency, as we have throughout the entire term of the agreement, including in response to their questions following the Alaska Airlines 1282 accident.”

After a two-year investigation, prosecutors charged Boeing with deceiving federal regulators about the capabilities of a new feature on its planes implicated in both the deadly crashes, which killed a combined 346 people in 2018 and 2019.

In January 2021, Boeing agreed to pay a $2.5 billion penalty, and undergo three years of monitoring, to settle the single charge of fraud.

But the plane-maker has been thrust back into an uncomfortable spotlight in recent months, beginning with the Jan. 5 mid-air blowout of a door plug on a 737 Max 9 operated by Alaska Airlines. A preliminary investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board released in February found that four bolts meant to hold the door plug in place were missing before the jet took off.

The next month, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Justice Department had quietly launched a criminal investigation into the blowout.

The families of the 346 crash victims have long held that they want to see Boeing properly held accountable for its role in the double tragedies, and have pushed for federal investigators to reopen their probe.

Paul Cassell, a professor of law at the University of Utah College of Law who is representing the families, called the Tuesday letter “a positive first step” in a statement.

“But we need to see further action from DOJ to hold Boeing accountable, and plan to use our meeting on May 31 to explain in more detail what we believe would be a satisfactory remedy to Boeing’s ongoing criminal conduct,” he said.

The Daily Beast.

The US says Boeing violated a 2021 settlement. That doesn't mean the company will face charges

DAVID KOENIG
Wed, May 15, 2024 

FILE - An airplane flies over a sign on Boeing's 737 delivery center, Oct. 19, 2015, at Boeing Field in Seattle. The Justice Department's determination on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, that Boeing violated corporate probation for deceiving federal regulators does not necessarily mean that prosecutors will revive criminal charges against the giant aircraft manufacturer. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

The Justice Department's determination that Boeing violated corporate probation for deceiving federal regulators does not necessarily mean federal prosecutors will revive criminal charges against the giant aircraft manufacturer.

But we should know within weeks whether Boeing will face another day in court.

The Justice Department said in a court filing Tuesday that Boeing had violated terms of a 2021 settlement that allowed it to avoid prosecution for actions that led up to two deadly crashes involving the company's 737 Max jetliners more than five years ago.

Prosecutors indicated they haven’t decided what to do next. What follows is an explanation of the Justice Department’s options and other things to know about the case.

WHAT IS BOEING ACCUSED OF?

The Justice Department says Boeing failed to meet terms of the settlement, which required the company to set up and maintain a program to detect and prevent violations of U.S. anti-fraud laws. Notably, the government did not say whether Boeing actually committed any acts of fraud.

WHY WAS BOEING ON PROBATION?

The crashes, which happened in Indonesia in 2018 and in Ethiopia in 2019, killed a total of 346 people. After the second one, the Justice Department investigated how Boeing convinced the Federal Aviation Administration to certify the 737 Max. Prosecutors determined that Boeing committed fraud against the United States by deceiving the FAA about elements of a key flight-control system that was later implicated in the crashes.

Boeing and the Justice Department secretly negotiated a settlement – called a deferred prosecution agreement – in which Boeing blamed the deception on two low-level employees and agreed to pay $2.5 billion, mostly to its airline customers. In exchange, the government agreed to drop a single criminal count of fraud if Boeing kept clean for three years.

WHAT ROLE DID BOEING'S CURRENT PROBLEMS PLAY?

The three-year probationary period was about to expire when a door plug on a new 737 Max blew out during Alaska Airlines flight 1282 in January. The incident prompted new investigations of the company, including one by the Justice Department. Accident investigators determined that four bolts that help secure the door plug were missing after the panel was removed for work at a Boeing factory near Seattle.

Boeing told federal officials it had no documentation about the repair job. At a meeting last month with families of people killed in the Max crashes, Justice Department officials said Boeing's lack of information could be a violation of the settlement agreement, according to two lawyers who were present.

The FBI told passengers on the Alaska flight they might be victims of a crime.

WHAT DOES BOEING SAY?

The Arlington, Virginia, company disputes the Justice Department’s finding.

“We believe that we have honored the terms of that agreement, and look forward to the opportunity to respond to the Department on this issue,” a Boeing spokesperson said in a statement. The company said it has always been transparent in its communications about the agreement, "including in response to (the Justice Department's) questions following the Alaska Airlines 1282 accident.”

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Boeing has until June 13 to formally respond to the allegation that it violated the deferred prosecution agreement, which was filed in federal district court in Fort Worth, Texas. The Justice Department said it would consider the company's comments “in determining whether to pursue prosecution.”

Prosecutors said they would meet in Washington on May 31 with families of passengers who died in the two Max crashes to explain the determination that Boeing has failed to comply with the settlement and get relatives' input. Family members were angry and disappointed after a similar meeting last month.

WHAT OPTIONS DO PROSECUTORS HAVE?

The Justice Department told U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor — who upheld the 2021 agreement — that Boeing could be prosecuted for any crime the government knows about, but it did not say what those might be. The department also did not disclose the alleged actions by the company that prosecutors determined breached the 2021 settlement.

Although government prosecutors could revive their original fraud charge, they also may choose to keep Boeing on probation for the 737 Max-related fraud or to ask the judge to permanently dismiss the charge – in effect, ending the case.

It would be unusual — but not unprecedented — for the government to call off a corporate plea deal. Last year, Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson pleaded guilty and paid a $206 million criminal penalty after breaking a deferred prosecution agreement.

The Justice Department said it would notify the judge of its decision about Boeing no later than July 7.

Boeing violated $2.5B settlement to avoid prosecution, says Justice Dept

Tara Suter
Wed, May 15, 2024 


The Department of Justice (DOJ) told a federal judge Tuesday that Boeing violated a settlement that let it escape criminal prosecution following the two crashes of 737 Max aircraft a few years ago.

The DOJ now has to figure out if it will file charges against the aviation giant, according to The Associated Press. According to the department, prosecutors will let the court know of their plans by early July.

Glenn Leon, the head of the DOJ’s criminal fraud section, said Tuesday in a letter filed in federal court in Texas, that Boeing violated the terms of a $2.5 billion settlement from January 2021 in relation to the two crashes of 737 Max jets in 2018 and 2019.

It said Boeing had breached the deal to evade prosecution “by failing to design, implement, and enforce a compliance and ethics program to prevent and detect violations of the U.S. fraud laws throughout its operations.”

The finding that Boeing violated the terms of the settlement by not making the changes could result in the company being prosecuted “for any federal criminal violation of which the United States has knowledge,” the DOJ said.

Boeing has continued to experience high-profile safety issues and public scrutiny, most recently in January when a door plug blowing off of a 737 Max 9 aircraft during an Alaska Airlines flight.

Boeing confirmed it received communication from the Justice Department and a request for response over the alleged violations of the nonprosecution deal.

“We believe that we have honored the terms of that agreement, and look forward to the opportunity to respond to the Department on this issue,” it said in a statement.

“As we do so, we will engage with the Department with the utmost transparency, as we have throughout the entire term of the agreement, including in response to their questions following the Alaska Airlines 1282 accident.”

US government says Boeing in breach of US fraud laws agreement

DPA
Wed, May 15, 2024

A logo with the inscription "Boeing" pictured on a hall of the Boeing distribution center. Georg Wendt/dpa


Aircraft maker Boeing violated the terms of a US agreement that has so far protected it from prosecution following two fatal plane crashes, according to the US Department of Justice.

Boeing had not implemented a programme to prevent violations of US fraud laws as agreed, according to court documents filed on Tuesday. The government says it has not yet decided how to proceed in the matter.

Boeing was given until June 13 to provide an official response. In an initial reaction on Tuesday, the company emphasized that, in its own estimation, it had complied with the agreement.

The crashes of two Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in October 2018 and March 2019 killed 346 people. According to investigators, software that was supposed to support pilots but interfered with the controls more than they expected was behind both crashes.

Boeing was criticized because the aircraft manufacturer had declared special training for the software unnecessary when the plane model was certified by the US authorities.

In accordance with the agreement with the US government, Boeing paid a fine of $243 million. In return, the allegations of fraud in connection with the information provided to the US authorities were not pursued further.

However, Boeing was required to implement a compliance and ethics programme. The Department of Justice has now emphasised that a breach of this can again result in criminal prosecution of the company.

After the two crashes, the 737 MAX aircraft had to remain on the ground for months, until Boeing carried out improvements.

This year, the company once again came to the attention of the authorities after a piece of fueselage blew off an almost new Boeing 737-9 Max operated by US carrier Alaska Airlines in mid-air in January.

Nobody was seriously injured in the incident.

The US government subsequently launched an investigation and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) called on Boeing to submit a plan to improve quality controls. The FAA also blocked Boeing's planned expansion of 737 MAX production until further notice.