One year after a panel blew out of an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX, shortly after it took off, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has said that Boeing needs “a fundamental cultural shift” to put safety and quality above profits.
Chief of the FAA, Mike Whitaker, said in an online post on January 3, 2025, that his agency also has more work to do in its oversight of the aircraft manufacturer.
On January 5, 2024, a door plug detached from Alaska Airlines flight 1282, a 737 MAX 9 aircraft, after taking off from Portland. The detachment of the panel led to a rapid decompression of the cabin. All passengers and crew survived the incident.
Shortly after the incident in January of last year, the FAA made the decision to ground all 737 MAX aircraft with similar door plugs to that of the one that blew out of Alaska Airlines flight 1282. Following the grounding, the FAA increased oversight at Boeing facilities deploying additional inspectors, reducing production rates for new 737 aircraft and mandating the company develop a comprehensive plan to address ongoing manufacturing issues.
“Boeing is working to make progress executing its comprehensive plan in the areas of safety, quality improvement and effective employee engagement and training,” noted Whitaker. “But this is not a one-year project. What’s needed is a fundamental cultural shift at Boeing that’s oriented around safety and quality above profits. That will require sustained effort and commitment from Boeing, and unwavering scrutiny on our part.”
Boeing has stated that it has “significantly reduced defects” in 737 fuselages built by Spirit AeroSystems. Boeing is in the process of buying Spirit for $4.7 billion.
In addition to oversight from the FAA, Alaska Airlines has made visits to Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita - which makes the fuselage of 737 aircraft and Boeing's factory in Renton.
The airline emphasised that its audit team is “actively engaged” with Boeing’s production quality and control systems.