| From: John Koligman | 6/10/2024 2:08:42 PM | | | | | | A Big Decision for Boeing’s Next C.E.O.: Is It Time for a New Plane?
Some analysts say building a new plane soon would help the company regain ground it has lost to Airbus. But doing so would be difficult and expensive.
Credit...Palesa Monareng
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By Niraj Chokshi
More than a decade ago, executives at Boeing made a pivotal decision: To keep up with the company’s main rival, Airbus, they gave up on the idea of developing a new airplane and raced to update the 737, the company’s most popular jet.
That effort culminated in the 737 Max, which had two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 and attracted more scrutiny this year when a panel blew out of one of the planes during a flight in January. The jet’s troubles have left Boeing behind Airbus in the global market for single-aisle planes, which it once dominated.
Now, Boeing, which is expected to appoint a new chief executive by the end of the year, has to make another critical choice: When should it develop its next brand-new plane?
If the company missteps, it could spend billions of dollars and still lose market share to Airbus, which is based in Toulouse, France. Both manufacturers also face a distant but rising threat from China and growing pressure to cut planet-warming emissions.
“That will be one of the most important decisions for whoever steps into the C.E.O. role,” said Ken Herbert, an aerospace and defense analyst at RBC Capital Markets. “Their legacy is going to be defined by what they do with the portfolio.”
Boeing declined to provide comment for this story.
Commercial planes are generally divided into two groups. Narrow-body, or single-aisle, planes like the 737 typically carry 100 to 200 passengers on domestic U.S. flights. Wide-body, or twin-aisle, planes can take more passengers farther — from, say, New York to London or Tokyo.
Boeing and Airbus sell many more narrow-body jets, but airlines are increasingly demanding larger versions of those planes because of limited gates and runway capacity at many airports and growing demand in travel.
The Max was designed to compete against the Airbus A320neo family of planes. Experts say the verdict in that contest is clear: Boeing lost. Airlines around the world have ordered many more of the Airbus jets, especially the largest, the A321neo. The European company’s lead was solidified after the Max crashes — which experts traced to poor design and engineering decisions — and the ensuing 20-month global ban on the plane.
In 2019, for the first time, Airbus had more passenger planes flying around the planet than Boeing did, according to Cirium, an aviation data provider.
The Max remains popular, especially with airlines in the United States, which have a long history of flying Boeing planes. The company is working to fill about 4,300 orders for the Max, a backlog worth hundreds of billions of dollars. But Airbus has sold far more of the A320neo family, with more than 7,100 outstanding orders for the three variants of that plane.
Boeing still leads when it comes to larger, twin-aisle planes, but Airbus’s dominance in the lucrative single-aisle market could prove self-reinforcing, experts said. With more sales coming in, Airbus can invest more in research and development. With more planes flying, it can earn more from selling spare parts and providing services.
“The entire time Boeing has been running around putting out fires, Airbus has just been running their business,” said Ron Epstein, an aerospace and defense analyst at Bank of America.
Boeing has also squeezed all it can out of the 737, which debuted in the late 1960s. In developing the Max, the company pushed that plane’s structure to its limits. Its next plane is likely to be one that it builds from the ground up, aviation experts said.
It was not clear what that new jet might look like or when it might arrive.
Dave Calhoun, Boeing’s chief executive, has said the company won’t roll out a new plane until the mid-2030s — partly because such a monumental effort would be worthwhile only when companies like General Electric, Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney introduced more efficient engines.
But building a new plane could help Boeing fill an important gap in the market for larger-narrow-body jets, some experts said.
Airbus’s most popular plane, by far, is the A321neo, which has the most seats and can travel the farthest of the company’s three neo models. Boeing’s answer to that plane, the 737 Max 10, does not fly quite as far and has yet to be approved by regulators.
Mr. Epstein of Bank of America estimated last year that Boeing could sell 6,500 larger single-aisle jets to airlines, mostly to replace smaller narrow-body planes. That jet could be developed in seven to eight years for an investment of up to $20 billion, with Boeing generating at least five times as much in gross profits, he said at the time.
Some aviation experts also argue that Boeing and Mr. Calhoun have been too cautious about committing to a new plane, which they said could be more efficient even without waiting for new engines. Newer materials, different kinds of wings and other advancements could help Boeing achieve meaningful improvements, they said.
“If you present the airlines with a reasonably good plane, they’ll take it,” said Michel Merluzeau, an analyst at AIR, an aerospace and defense consulting firm.
The longer Boeing takes to build a new plane, some said, the longer Airbus has to expand its lead. And while new engines promise big gains in efficiency, they may fall short in practice. Airlines may also be slow to buy planes powered by those engines, especially after problems with the current generation’s engines, which have needed more and longer repairs than expected.
But others said it could be wise for Boeing to wait. If the company moves too soon, Airbus could swoop in with an even newer, better aircraft.
Most analysts expect Airbus to release a new plane in the middle of the next decade, around the same time that Mr. Calhoun has targeted. Aviation experts disagree on whether Airbus would move first or wait to follow Boeing, but say the European manufacturer is well positioned for either approach.
Developing a new plane is a huge undertaking. Unlike wide-body planes, narrow-body jets are sold in larger numbers and, thus, need to be churned out rapidly; Boeing and Airbus aim to produce dozens every month. To accommodate that pace, Boeing will have to develop a complex production system and prepare its suppliers. Airlines will also probably have to be willing to train pilots for a new jet, an expensive and time-consuming process.
Ultimately, any new plane will also have to last for decades, Mr. Calhoun said in an interview with Aviation Week, a trade publication, last year.
“Twenty years is a disaster; 30 years is a disaster,” he said. “They’ve got to last 50 years.”
Of course, Boeing would not be starting from scratch. The company and Airbus are constantly developing and issuing new techniques, technologies and tools. Boeing can apply lessons learned elsewhere, for example, from developing the wide-body 787 Dreamliner, which it first delivered to an airline in 2011, or the coming 777X, a more efficient version of an existing wide-body Boeing plane whose wing the company will make in house with composite materials.
The company is also working on experimental technologies. With NASA, Boeing is developing a longer, thinner wing supported by braces, a design known as the Transonic Truss-Braced Wing. It also maintains a research program known as the ecoDemonstrator, which uses modified planes to test new technologies. Both Boeing and Airbus are also separately experimenting with the use of sustainable fuels, which can be made from used cooking oil, waste, corn and other materials.
Aviation experts said building a new plane could generate new enthusiasm for the company after its recent problems.
“If they can make it easier for people to like them, I think they’ll find there is quite a lot of support out there for a new, improved Boeing,” said Rob Stallard, an analyst who covers both Boeing and Airbus at Vertical Research Partners.
Niraj Chokshi writes about aviation, rail and other transportation industries. More about Niraj Chokshi |
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| From: John Koligman | 6/14/2024 12:57:26 PM | | | | | | F.A.A. Investigating How Counterfeit Titanium Got Into Boeing and Airbus Jets
The material, which was purchased from a little-known Chinese company, was sold with falsified documents and used in parts that went into jets from both manufacturers.
A Boeing manufacturing facility. The company has been under intense scrutiny after a series of recent mishaps and safety issues.Credit...Logan Cyrus/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
By Mark Walker
Reporting from Washington
June 14, 2024, 5:00 a.m. ET
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Some recently manufactured Boeing and Airbus jets have components made from titanium that was sold using fake documentation verifying the material’s authenticity, according to a supplier for the plane makers, raising concerns about the structural integrity of those airliners.
The falsified documents are being investigated by Spirit AeroSystems, which supplies fuselages for Boeing and wings for Airbus, as well as the Federal Aviation Administration. The investigation comes after a parts supplier found small holes in the material from corrosion.
In a statement, the F.A.A. said it was investigating the scope of the problem and trying to determine the short- and long-term safety implications to planes that were made using the parts. It is unclear how many planes have parts made with the questionable material.
“Boeing reported a voluntary disclosure to the F.A.A. regarding procurement of material through a distributor who may have falsified or provided incorrect records,” the statement said. “Boeing issued a bulletin outlining ways suppliers should remain alert to the potential of falsified records.”
The revelation comes at a moment of intense scrutiny of Boeing and the broader aviation industry, which is reeling from a series of mishaps and safety issues. In January, a door panel blew off a Boeing 737 Max 9 jet while it was in flight, prompting several federal investigations. In April, Boeing told the F.A.A. about a separate episode involving potentially falsified inspection records related to the wings of 787 Dreamliner planes. Boeing reported to the F.A.A. that it might have skipped required inspections involving the jet’s wings and that it would need to reinspect some of the Dreamliners still in production.
On May 30, Boeing submitted a plan to the F.A.A. outlining safety improvements it planned to make and committed to weekly meetings with the agency. Dave Calhoun, the Boeing chief executive, is set to testify on Tuesday before a Senate panel on the company’s safety issues.
The use of potentially fake titanium, which has not been previously reported, threatens to extend the industry’s problems beyond Boeing to Airbus, its European competitor. The planes that included components made with the material were built between 2019 and 2023, among them some Boeing 737 Max and 787 Dreamliner airliners as well as Airbus A220 jets, according to three people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. It is not clear how many of those planes are in service or which airlines own them.
Spirit is trying to determine where the titanium came from, whether it meets proper standards despite its phony documentation, and whether the parts made from the material are structurally sound enough to hold up through the projected life spans of the jets, company officials said. Spirit said it was trying to determine the most efficient way to remove and replace the affected parts if that ended up being necessary.
“This is about documents that have been falsified, forged and counterfeited,” said Joe Buccino, a Spirit spokesman. “Once we realized the counterfeit titanium made its way into the supply chain, we immediately contained all suspected parts to determine the scope of the issues.”
The titanium in question has been used in a variety of aircraft parts, according to Spirit officials. For the 787 Dreamliner, that includes the passenger entry door, cargo doors and a component that connects the engines to the plane’s airframe. For the 737 Max and the A220, the affected parts include a heat shield that protects a component, which connects a jet’s engine to the frame, from extreme heat.
Boeing and Airbus both said their tests of affected materials so far had shown no signs of problems.
Boeing said it directly purchased most of the titanium used in its plane production, so most of its supply was unaffected.
“This industrywide issue affects some shipments of titanium received by a limited set of suppliers, and tests performed to date have indicated that the correct titanium alloy was used,” Boeing said in a statement. “To ensure compliance, we are removing any affected parts on airplanes prior to delivery. Our analysis shows the in-service fleet can continue to fly safely.”
Airbus likewise maintained that “the A220’s airworthiness remains intact.”
“Numerous tests have been performed on parts coming from the same source of supply,” an Airbus spokeswoman said in a statement, adding, “The safety and quality of our aircraft are our most important priorities, and we are working in close collaboration with our supplier.”
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency did not respond to a request for comment.
Spirit has suffered from quality issues and financial troubles in recent years, and it came under new scrutiny this year after the episode in January involving the door panel of the 737 Max, whose fuselage it makes.
The problem illustrates the complex global supply chain used in producing modern jetliners, and the story of what appears to have gone wrong involves companies in China, Italy, Turkey and the United States.
The issue appears to date to 2019 when a Turkish material supplier, Turkish Aerospace Industries, purchased a batch of titanium from a supplier in China, according to the people familiar with the issue. The Turkish company then sold that titanium to several companies that make aircraft parts, and those parts made their way to Spirit, which used them in Boeing and Airbus planes.
In December 2023, an Italian company that bought the titanium from Turkish Aerospace Industries noticed that the material looked different from what the company typically received. The company, Titanium International Group, also found that the certificates that came with the titanium seemed inauthentic.
Turkish Aerospace Industries did not respond to a request for a comment.
Spirit began investigating the matter, and the company notified Boeing and Airbus in January that it could not verify the source of the titanium used to make certain parts. Titanium International Group told Spirit that when it bought the material in 2019, it had no clue that the paperwork had been forged, according to Spirit officials.
Francesca Conti, a general manager for Titanium International Group, said that the episode was under investigation and that she could not provide additional details. “We are cooperating with relevant authorities to address any issue eventually identified,” she said in an email.
The documents in question are known as certificates of conformity. They serve somewhat as a birth certificate for the titanium, detailing its quality, how it was made and where it came from, Spirit officials said.
People familiar with the situation said it appeared that an employee at the Chinese company that sold the titanium had forged the details on the certificates, writing that the material came from another Chinese company, Baoji Titanium Industry, a firm that often supplies verified titanium. Baoji Titanium later confirmed that it had not supplied the titanium. The origin of the titanium remains unclear.
“Baoji Titanium doesn’t know about the company and has no business dealing with this company,” the firm said in a statement to The New York Times.
Without knowing where the material came from or how it was handled, it is impossible to verify the airworthiness of the parts, said Gregg Brown, the senior vice president for global quality at Spirit.
“Our quality management process relies on the traceability of the raw materials all the way from the mills,” Mr. Brown said. “There has been a loss of traceability in that process and a documentation challenge.”
Spirit officials said they had started testing titanium parts to make sure aviation-grade material was used. The company is testing components that are still in stock and that are on undelivered fuselages.
So far, Spirit’s testing has confirmed that the titanium is the appropriate grade for airplane manufacturers. But the company has been unable to confirm that the titanium was treated through the approved airplane manufacturing process. The material passed some of the materials testing performed on it but failed others.
Mr. Buccino, the Spirit spokesman, said the company was working with customers to identify the affected planes. Aircraft that are already in service will be monitored by airlines and removed from service earlier than normal if warranted, he said. More likely, he said, the affected parts will be removed during routine maintenance checks regardless of whether the titanium checks out.
Olivia Wang contributed reporting from Hong Kong. Kitty Bennett contributed research. |
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| From: John Koligman | 6/14/2024 8:55:26 PM | | | | | | Investigation underway into rare, unsafe airliner roll experienced by a Boeing 737 Max
By Gregory Wallace, CNN
3 minute read
Updated 3:46 PM EDT, Fri June 14, 2024
A Southwest Airlines check-in area at the Oakland International Airport in Oakland, California, US, on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023.
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images/File
CNN —
Federal authorities and Boeing are trying to figure out why a 737 Max 8 experienced a rare, unsafe back-and-forth roll during flight.
The oscillating motion is known as a Dutch roll, and one characteristic described by the Federal Aviation Administration is the nose of an aircraft making a figure-eight.
There were no injuries onboard Southwest Airlines flight 746 on May 25, according to the airline and a preliminary report by the FAA. The report said the crew “regained control,” and the plane safely landed.
But the aircraft suffered “substantial” damage and the FAA classified the incident as an “accident.” The FAA report said an inspection “revealed damage to the standby PCU,” or power control unit, which controls the rudder.
It is unclear if the damaged unit led to or was a result of the roll.
The plane has not flown since landing in Oakland, California after the incident, except to move it to a Boeing facility in Washington state. Boeing did not immediately comment to CNN.
Southwest told CNN it referred the incident to the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board and is participating in and supporting the investigation.
The incident occurred almost three weeks ago and was added to a FAA database this week. There were 175 passengers and six crew onboard, according to the airline.
The NTSB confirmed it has opened an investigation into this incident. Investigators have downloaded data from the flight data recorder, which “will aid investigators in determining the length and severity of the event.”
Voice recordings from the voice data recorder – the other of the so-called black boxes - were overwritten.
In February, the FAA required airlines flying some 737 Max 8 and similar aircraft to inspect the rudder assembly for loose or missing nut, washer and bolt. It said the flaw would prevent the pilots from controlling the rudder using foot pedals. Authorities have not said if this condition and the Dutch roll last month are related.
An unusual motionMost passengers have never felt a plane make this movement — and most airline pilots have never experienced it in actual flight.
“It’s very obscure,” aviation safety analyst and former airline pilot Kathleen Bangs told CNN. “It’s a very uncomfortable movement and you feel the tail swinging around.”
While moving forward in flight, airplanes can pivot along three axis: Nose up and down, known as pitch; wings dipping down or raising up, known as roll; and the tail shifting left or right, known as yaw.
Airliners turn using a typically seamless combination of roll and yaw coordinated by the aircraft’s computers. These large aircraft also have yaw dampers that make small adjustments throughout flight.
In the Dutch roll, the plane both rolls and yaws excessively. Passengers would feel the plane shift to one side, and back to the other — moving back and forth, Bangs said.
She said airline pilots train for scenarios where their yaw dampers fail. They could take an aircraft simulator to a high altitude and turn off the yaw damper.
“Then you stomp on a rudder pedal really hard to try to initiate [the roll] in the simulator,” Bangs said.
To get out of a Dutch roll, pilots can slow the aircraft and descend to thicker air. Modern airliners are designed to be inherently stable in air, she said, so the plane may return to level flight with minimal additional input.
But the forces can be powerful. In 1959, four of the eight occupants on a Boeing 707 test and training flight were killed just outside of Washington, DC, after extremely steep Dutch rolls.
“The aircraft immediately yawed and rolled violently to the right,” reads a report from the Civil Aeronautics Board, which investigated the incident. “Several gyrations followed and after control of the aircraft was regained, it was determined that three of the four engines had separated from the aircraft and it was on fire.” |
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| From: John Koligman | 6/18/2024 1:52:19 PM | | | | | | Boeing CEO heads for Senate grilling as new whistleblower alleges company hid bad airplane parts
PUBLISHED TUE, JUN 18 20245:00 AM EDTUPDATED 12 MIN AGO
KEY POINTS
- Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun faces a Senate panel over ballooning safety and quality control crises with the plane-maker.
- Boeing is under fire after a door plug blew out of one of its nearly new 737 Max planes in January during a flight.
- The Senate subcommittee released whistleblower claims on Tuesday from Boeing employee Sam Mohawk, alleging the company lost track of parts that were damaged or not up to specification.
Dave Calhoun, CEO of Boeing, leaves a meeting with Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, 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.
Tom Williams | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun plans to tell a Senate panel on Tuesday that the company’s culture is “far from perfect” as fresh whistleblower claims surface just hours before the hearing that allege the company mishandled hundreds of defective parts.
“I’m here to answer questions. I’m here in the spirit of transparency, and I’m here to take responsibility,” Calhoun told reporters before the hearing.
Calhoun, who has said he will step down before the end of the year, faces questions from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations as the company works to improve employee training and aircraft quality and to fix its tarnished safety reputation. The company has still not named a replacement for Calhoun, who took over after its previous leader was ousted for his handling of two fatal Boeing crashes.
“Much has been said about Boeing’s culture. We’ve heard those concerns loud and clear. Our culture is far from perfect, but we are taking action and making progress,” Calhoun plans to tell the subcommittee, according to written testimony ahead of the hearing.
The subcommittee released whistleblower claims on Tuesday from Sam Mohawk, a quality assurance investigator at Boeing, alleging the company lost track of parts that were damaged or not up to specification and that “those parts are likely being installed on airplanes.” The parts Mohawk flagged were in Boeing’s Renton, Washington, plant, where the company makes its best-selling 737 Max.
Mohawk said he was retaliated against and that he was told by supervisors to hide evidence from the Federal Aviation Administration, according to a memo shared by the committee on Tuesday. Dozens of important parts were stored outside during an FAA inspection, including 42 rudders as well as winglets and stabilizers, Mohawk alleged in claims with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the memo said.
A Boeing spokeswoman said that the company received the claims Monday night and that staff are reviewing them.
“We continuously encourage employees to report all concerns as our priority is to ensure the safety grof our airplanes and the flying public,” she said.
The FAA said it has seen an increase in the number of reports from Boeing staff since the door-plug blowout in January.
“We thoroughly investigate every report, including allegations uncovered in the Senate’s work,” the agency said Tuesday. The FAA declined to comment on the specifics of the latest allegations.
Mohawk is not testifying before the Senate subcommittee’s hearing, which starts at 2 p.m. ET.
The hearing and new whistleblower claims are further complicating matters for Boeing. The company already faces potential U.S. prosecution after the Justice Department said last month that the plane-maker violated a 2021 settlement tied to 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019 that claimed 346 lives. That agreement, which protected the company and its executives from facing criminal charges tied to the crashes, would have expired just days after the blowout of the Alaska Airlines door panel in January. The Justice Department has until July 7 to decide whether to prosecute.
Several victims’ family members are expected to attend Tuesday’s hearing. Relatives of Max crash victims met with Justice Department officials late last month to urge the U.S. to prosecute.
“Boeing made a promise to overhaul its safety practices and culture. That promise proved empty, and the American people deserve an explanation,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., the subcommittee’s chairman, upon announcing the hearing earlier this month.
WATCH NOW
VIDEO15:04
Why the Boeing 737 Max has been such a mess
The FAA has taken a hard line against Boeing, with FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker saying the regulator will keep inspectors on the ground at the company’s facilities until the agency is satisfied with safety improvements.
The FAA had already halted Boeing’s ability to increase production of the Max, its bestselling plane. Whitaker last month said it would likely be several months before lifting that restriction.
Boeing’s aircraft output has suffered from the resulting crisis, forcing big customers s uch as Southwest Airlines and United Airlines to adjust their growth and hiring plans.
Boeing’s lower production and deliveries have hurt its cash flow, and the company warned investors last month that it would burn instead of generate cash this year.
Boeing’s shares are down more than 30% so far this year as of Monday’s close, compared with a nearly 15% gain in the S&P 500.
The company is trying to stamp out quality flaws on jets and reduce so-called traveled work in which production steps are completed out of order, something it has done to address defects. Last month Boeing pointed to a host of other changes to encourage workers to speak up about problems in its factories after several whistleblowers raised concerns about quality issues and retaliation.
Separately, Boeing is facing supply chain issues. Spirit AeroSystems, a major supplier for both Boeing and Airbus, said last week that titanium entered the supply chain with falsified documents. The supplier said that despite the falsified documentation, more than 1,000 tests confirmed that the material is “airplane-grade titanium.”
Boeing has been trying to purchase fuselage supplier Spirit, a deal Calhoun said is “more than likely” to be finalized in the first half of the year. |
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| From: John Koligman | 6/25/2024 2:12:12 PM | | | | | | Boeing Is Said to Offer Stock to Buy Spirit, Preserving Cash Amid Struggles
The plane maker is expected to soon strike a deal to acquire most of the operations of Spirit AeroSystems, a troubled supplier that makes the bodies of the 737 Max.
In buying Spirit AeroSystems, Boeing hopes to improve quality problems that have plagued the supplier in recent years.Credit...Nick Oxford/Reuters
By Niraj Chokshi and Lauren Hirsch
June 25, 2024Updated 1:45 p.m. ET
In a bid to acquire a key supplier, Boeing has shifted how it plans to pay for the deal, according to two people familiar with the negotiations, a move that could help the plane maker preserve money as it addresses safety and quality problems.
Boeing would use stock instead of cash to buy Spirit AeroSystems, said the two people, who were not authorized to speak publicly about the deal. One added that Boeing would pay more than $4 billion for Spirit, which produces aviation parts, including the body of the Boeing 737 Max, the company’s most popular plane.
One of the people familiar with the talks said that the decision to shift to stock from cash was not expected to significantly delay a deal, which could be announced as soon as next week.
Based on its stock price on Tuesday, Spirit has a market value of more than $3.6 billion.
News that Boeing was proposing to use its stock, rather than cash, to buy Spirit was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.
Paying in stock could help Boeing’s financial situation as it invests in improving production quality. The Federal Aviation Administration limited the company’s ability to increase production of 737 Max, its most popular commercial jet, after the January incident. In May, Boeing said that its operations would use more cash than it brings in this year.
The negotiations to acquire Spirit have been complicated by the fact that Spirit also supplies parts to Boeing’s biggest competitor, Airbus. That company is expected to take over the operations of Spirit that produce parts for Airbus.
Federal investigators have said that the plane involved in the January incident appeared to have left a Boeing factory without the bolts needed to secure the panel in place. In the months that followed, Boeing has taken a number of steps to improve quality. Last week, its chief executive, Dave Calhoun, faced tough questioning from lawmakers about the episode and two fatal crashes involving the Max in late 2018 and early 2019.
Boeing’s problems with the 737 Max were compounded by the pandemic, which disrupted the supply chain across the aviation industry. While the supply of materials and parts has recovered somewhat, it remains challenged.
On Monday, Airbus lowered the number of commercial planes it expected to deliver to airlines this year to 770, from a previous estimate of around 800. The company, based in Toulouse, France, said it was struggling to get enough engines, plane structures and cabin equipment. As a result of that change and problems in its space business, Airbus lowered its profit and cash flow forecast for 2024. The company’s stock was down 10 percent on Tuesday after its announcement.
Niraj Chokshi writes about aviation, rail and other transportation industries. More about Niraj Chokshi
Lauren Hirsch joined The Times from CNBC in 2020, covering deals and the biggest stories on Wall Street. More about Lauren Hirsch |
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| From: roto | 6/27/2024 8:59:46 PM | | | | | | there is the rework authority & documentation of that repair & door re- installation. I find it incredulous that Boeing is missing paperwork.
Boeing blames missing paperwork for Alaska Air incident, prompting rebuke from safety regulators
By Gregory Wallace and Chris Isidore, CNN
6 minute read
Updated 8:15 PM EDT, Thu June 27, 2024
This photo from the National Transportation Safety Board shows the exterior of the fuselage plug area of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 Boeing 737-9 Max.
NTSB/Handout/Getty Images
Renton, WashingtonCNN —
For months, missing paperwork has hindered the investigation into how a door plug blew off a 737 Max on an Alaska Airlines flight in January, making it difficult to find out who made the near tragic mistake. This week, Boeing disclosed that the paperwork may have caused the problem in the first place.
It was already well known that no documentation was found to show who worked on the door plug, which came off the plane after it had reached around 16,000 feet in the air causing an uncontrolled decompression, which injured a few passengers and even tore one’s shirt off.
But at a briefing for journalists at Boeing’s 737 Max factory in Renton, Washington, Boeing said that the lack of paperwork is why the four bolts needed to hold the door plug in place were never installed before the plane left the factory in October. The workers who needed to reinstall the bolts never had the work order telling them the work needed to be done.
Without the bolts, the door plug incident was pretty much inevitable. Luckily, it wasn’t fatal.
It’s a sign of the problems with the quality of work along the Boeing assembly lines. Those problems have become the focus of multiple federal investigations and whistleblower revelations, and the cause of delays in jet deliveries that are causing headaches for airlines and passengers around the globe.
Boeing may have stepped in it… again
But Boeing may have landed itself in even more trouble with regulators for divulging the details at this stage. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reprimanded Boeing Thursday for releasing “non-public investigative information” to the media. It said in a statement that the company had “blatantly violated” the agency’s rules.
“During a media briefing Tuesday about quality improvements… a Boeing executive provided investigative information and gave an analysis of factual information previously released. Both of these actions are prohibited,” the NTSB said.
Boeing will no longer have access to information generated by the NTSB during its investigation, the agency said, adding it was referring Boeing’s conduct to the Department of Justice.
“As a party to many NTSB investigations over the past decades, few entities know the rules better than Boeing,” the NTSB said.
In a letter sent to Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun Thursday, NTSB Office of Aviation Safety Director Timothy LeBaron said this week’s media briefing was done without the consent or knowledge of the regulator.
“Boeing must take all reasonable steps to ensure that investigative information is protected from public release,” he wrote. “Such a release or withholding of critical information from our investigators are blatant violations of NTSB’s regulations.”
Boeing responded that it held the briefing in an effort to “take responsibility” and be transparent for its role in the incident. It said it “shared context on the lessons we have learned from the January 5 accident.”
“We deeply regret that some of our comments, intended to make clear our responsibility in the accident and explain the actions we are taking, overstepped the NTSB’s role as the source of investigative information,” said Boeing’s statement. “We apologize to the NTSB and stand ready to answer any questions as the agency continues its investigation.”
The NTSB also chastised Boeing for stating earlier this month that a rare, unsafe back-and-forth roll during a Southwest 737 Max flight in May was not because of a design or manufacturing error. The NTSB, which is investigating that incident, told Calhoun Thursday it had not made a determination yet and Boeing and the NTSB must speak with one voice when making public statements.
Bad paperwork trail
Boeing said during the Tuesday briefing that the reason the Alaska Air door plug was not probably secured in the first place was because two different groups of employees at the plant were charged with doing the work, with one removing and the other reinstalling the door plug as the plane was passing along the assembly line.
The first group of employees removed the door plug to address problems with some rivets that were made by a supplier, Spirit AeroSystems. But they didn’t generate the paperwork indicating they had removed the door plug, along with the four bolts necessary to hold it in place, in order to do that work.
RELATED ARTICLEBoeing hid questionable parts from regulators that may have been installed in 737 Max planes, new whistleblower alleges
When a different group of employees put the plug back in place, Boeing says the employees didn’t think the plane would actually fly in that condition.
Instead, they were just blocking the hole with the plug to protect the inside of the fuselage from weather as the plane moved outside to a different area of the factory compound. That group of employees often makes those kind of temporary fixes.
“The doors team closes up the aircraft before it is moved outside, but it’s not their responsibility to install the pins,” said Elizabeth Lund, senior vice president of quality for Boeing’s commercial airplane unit.
Those employees likely assumed paperwork existed showing that the plug and bolts had been removed, and that paperwork would prompt someone else along the line to install the bolts.
But without the paperwork, no one on the assembly line knew that the door plug had ever been removed, or that its bolts were missing, Lund said. Removing a door plug after a plane arrives from Spirit AeroSystems rarely happens, Lund added, so no one was aware the door plug needed attention.
“(Permanent) reinstallation is done by another team based on the paperwork showing what jobs are unfinished,” Lund said. “But there was no paperwork, so nobody knew to follow up.”
An accident waiting to happen
The plane actually flew for about two months with the door plug in place despite the lack of bolts. But minutes after the Alaska Airlines flight took off from Portland, Oregon, on January 5, the door plug blew out, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the plane. Passengers’ clothing and phones were ripped away from them and sent hurtling into the night sky. But fortunately no passengers were seriously injured, and the crew was able to land the plane safely.
The missing bolts had been identified in preliminary findings of the National Transportation Safety Board, but that report did not assess blame for the accident. And a final report is not expected for about a year or more. A spokesperson for the NTSB said that the safety agency is continuing its investigation and will not comment on Boeing’s explanation for how the mistake was made.
RELATED ARTICLEProsecutors urge Justice Department to file criminal charges against Boeing over 737 Max
The board released a preliminary report in February that said it had found the bolts were missing when it left the Boeing factory, but it did not assess blame. A final report is not expected for a year or more.
NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy has testified about the missing paperwork at Congressional hearings since the preliminary report was released.
Boeing is addressing the problem by slowing down its assembly lines, and making sure that planes don’t advance with problems under the assumption that those problems will be dealt with later in the assembly process, Lund said.
“We have slowed down our factories to make sure this is under control,” she said.
“I am extremely confident that the actions that we took,” will ensure every airplane leaving this factory is safe, she added.
edition.cnn.com
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| | Boeing keeps setting new highs! When will it split? | Stock Discussion ForumsShare | RecommendKeepReplyMark as Last Read |
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| From: roto | 7/1/2024 12:53:28 AM | | | | | | I worked with a few of the good, a few of the bad.
The bad were winning.
A good bitchslap is in order.
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US to criminally charge Boeing, seek guilty plea, sources say
By Mike Spector and Chris Prentice
July 1, 20246:34 AM GMT+8Updated 5 min ago
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun, Washington, D.C., June 18, 2024.
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
- DOJ's proposed plea deal includes $487.2 million penalty, half credited from previous settlement
- Boeing may face three years of probation and independent safety audits
- Victims' families informed of DOJ's decision before Boeing
June 30 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department will criminally charge Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab with fraud over two fatal crashes and ask the planemaker to plead guilty or face a trial, two people familiar with the matter said on Sunday.
The Justice Department planned to formally offer a plea agreement to Boeing later in the day, which includes a financial penalty and imposition of an independent monitor to audit the company's safety and compliance practices for three years, the sources said.
Justice Department officials plan to give Boeing until the end of the week to respond to the offer, which they will present as nonnegotiable, the sources said. Should Boeing refuse to plead guilty, prosecutors plan to take the company to trial, they said.
Boeing and the Justice Department declined to comment. Reuters was first to report the Justice Department's decision to prosecute Boeing and seek a guilty plea.
The Justice Department decided to charge Boeing after finding it violated a 2021 agreement that had shielded it from prosecution over the fatal crashes involving 737 MAX jets. The deadly crashes took place in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people.
The decision to move toward criminally charging Boeing deepens an ongoing crisis engulfing the planemaker, exposing the company to additional financial ramifications and tougher government oversight.
A guilty plea could also carry implications for Boeing's ability to enter into government contracts such as those with the U.S. military that make up a significant portion of its revenue. Companies with felony convictions can receive waivers, and it remained unclear to what extent the Justice Department's proposed plea deal addresses the issue.
Justice Department officials revealed their decision to victims' family members during a call earlier on Sunday. The proposal would require Boeing to plead guilty to conspiring to defraud the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration in connection with the fatal crashes, the sources said.
The Justice Department's push for Boeing to plead guilty follows a separate January in-flight blowout that exposed continuing safety and quality issues at the planemaker.
A panel blew off a new Boeing 737 MAX 9 jet during a Jan. 5 Alaska Airlines (ALK.N), opens new tab flight, just two days before a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department expired.
That agreement had shielded Boeing from prosecution over the 2018 and 2019 fatal crashes. Boeing has previously said it "honored the terms” of the settlement and formally told prosecutors it disagrees with the finding that it violated the agreement.
The proposed agreement also includes a $487.2 million financial penalty, only half of which Boeing would be required to pay, they added. That is because prosecutors are giving the company credit for a payment it made as part of the previous settlement related to the fatal crashes of the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines flights. The penalty is the maximum legally allowed for the charge.
Boeing could also likely be forced to pay restitution under the proposal's terms, the amount of which will be at a judge's discretion, the sources said. The offer also contemplates subjecting Boeing to three years of probation, they said.
The plea deal would also require Boeing's board to meet with victims' relatives, they said.
Victims' relatives expressed anger toward Justice Department officials during the call, viewing the proposed plea deal as failing to hold Boeing accountable for the fatal crashes, said Erin Applebaum, one of the lawyers representing victims’ relatives. Family members wanted the company to face additional charges and stiffer financial consequences, she said.
“The 737 MAX families vigorously oppose the shameful new sweetheart deal between Boeing and the Department of Justice,” said Applebaum. She called the proposed plea agreement’s financial penalty “negligible” and said victims’ families will oppose the deal in court.
The Justice Department declined to comment on the families' reaction.
It is unusual for the Justice Department to inform other interested parties of its plans before notifying the company in its crosshairs, a third source said. But the Justice Department, led by Attorney General Merrick Garland, has sought to change its tack after facing backlash from the victims' families over the original 2021 agreement. Victims' relatives found out about the 2021 deal only after it had been negotiated.
U.S. lawmakers in June grilled Chief Executive Dave Calhoun over Boeing's tarnished safety record. Lawyers for victims' family members have cited criticism from Capitol Hill when pressing the Justice Department to prosecute the planemaker and impose a fine of up to $24.78 billion.
Boeing previously paid $2.5 billion as part of the deal with prosecutors that granted the company immunity from criminal prosecution over a fraud conspiracy charge related to the 737 MAX's flawed design.
Boeing had to abide by the terms of the deferred prosecution agreement for a three-year period that ended on Jan. 7. Prosecutors would then have been poised to ask a judge to dismiss the fraud conspiracy charge.
But in May, the Justice Department found Boeing breached the agreement, exposing the company to prosecution.
reuters.com
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