A Boeing 737 Max.
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Boeing suspended its financial forecast for 2024 as it reported its fourth quarter earnings Wednesday.”Our full focus is on taking comprehensive actions to strengthen quality at Boeing,” CEO Dave Calhoun said.Boeing is under heavy scrutiny following the Alaska Airlines door plug blowout earlier in January.
Boeing suspended its financial forecast for 2024 as it reported its fourth quarter earnings on Wednesday, amid scrutiny following the Alaska Airlines blowout.
“While we report our financial results today, our full focus is on taking comprehensive actions to strengthen quality at Boeing, including listening to input from our 737 employees that do this work every day,” said Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun.
“As we move forward, we will support our customers, work transparently with our regulator and ensure we complete all actions to earn the confidence of our stakeholders,” he added.
In its earnings report, Boeing said it “continues to cooperate transparently with the FAA following the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 accident.”
A door plug, which covers a deactivated emergency exit, came off in midair on January 5 — forcing an emergency landing. The 737 Max 9 was delivered to the airline just 66 days earlier.
Nobody was seriously injured as the plane returned to Portland International Airport 20 minutes after takeoff, but the incident has raised serious questions about Boeing’s quality-control processes.
When National Transportation Safety Board investigators recovered the door plug, they learned four bolts securing it to the plane were missing. The Wall Street Journal reported that the plane left Boeing’s factory without the bolts in place.
171 Max 9 jets were grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration the day after the blowout. Following inspections, Alaska Airlines began flying some Max 9 jets again last Friday.
Last week, Alaska Airlines said it expects a $150 million hit due to the grounding.
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