Boeing Faces 90-Day Deadline for Action Plan Addressing Quality Control Issues

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has assigned Boeing 90 days to come up with a plan to fix quality problems and meet safety standards for the production of new planes, less than two months after a door plug blew out of a 737 MAX, nine minutes into an Alaska Airlines flight.

About the Deadline

The FAA stated on February 28 that they are on schedule for meeting with the top Boeing officials, including the manufacturer's CEO, Dave Calhoun, at the FAA headquarters in Washington.

FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker stated: 

"Boeing must commit to real and profound improvements. Making foundational change will require a sustained effort from Boeing's leadership, and we are going to hold them accountable every step of the way, with mutually understood milestones and expectations."

The updated deadline comes after the meeting of Mike Whitaker, Dave Calhoun, and other company officials. The FAA is currently accomplishing examination assembly lines at the Boeing factory near Seattle. In this facility, Boeing assembles aircraft like the 737 MAX, which suffered the incident of a door-panel blowout in January. Investigators mentioned the root of the problem as the bolts that should have kept the panel in place were missing after repair work on the Alaska Airlines aircraft at the Boeing factory. 

Calhoun said about the FAA's demands: 

"We have a clear picture of what needs to be done" considering the company's and independent reviews. "Boeing will develop the comprehensive action plan with measurable criteria that demonstrates the profound change that Administrator Whitaker and the FAA demand."

The FAA did not specify which action it might take if Boeing fails to meet the 90-day deadline.

This week, a panel of industry, government, and academic experts provided a report stating the shortcomings in the safety culture at Boeing. The manufacturer said that they have been working to improve. This month, Boeing replaced the head of its 737 MAX jetliner program after a few weeks of the door panel incident. Ed Clark, who had been in the company for nearly 18 years and led the 737 program since early 2021, left suddenly. 

The FAA also mentioned on Wednesday that it expects Boeing's plan to consist of findings from the report and its audit, which is a step scheduled to be completed in the next few weeks. Criticism of Boeing has reached a point not seen before since the aftermath of two deadly crashes involving MAX 8 jetliners in Indonesia and Ethiopia in 2018 and 2019.