The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is taking new
actions to increase its oversight of Boeing production and manufacturing, the
agency announced Friday. The move comes one day after the FAA notified Boeing
that is had launched an investigation into the company following the Alaska
Airlines Boeing 737-9 incident of losing a passenger door plug that
happened a week ago and subsequent grounding of the aircraft model.
The new actions include an audit of the Boeing Max 737-9
production line and its suppliers "to elevate Boeing's compliance with
approved quality procedures, increased monitoring of 737-9 in-service events,
and assessment of safety risks "around delegated authority and quality
oversight," as well as an examination of options "to move these
functions under independent, third-party entities," according to the FAA.
"It is time to re-examine the delegation of authority
and assess any associated safety risks," FAA administrator Mike Whitaker
said in a statement. "The grounding of the 737-9 and the multiple
production-related issues identified in recent years require us to look at
every option to reduce risk."
Alaska Airlines and United Airlines are two of the U.S.
carriers with Boeing Max 737-9 aircraft. The grounding has resulted in multiple
cancellations for the past week for each carrier.
Alaska in a
Friday statement said that it has continued to ground all Boeing Max 737-9
aircraft resulting in cancellations of between 110 to 150 flights per day
through at least Tuesday, Jan. 16, even though the carrier noted that the FAA
had communicated its instructions for preliminary inspections of some Max 737-9
aircraft.
United on
Friday also announced that it would continue cancellations because of the
grounding through at least Jan. 16 as well. The carrier usually operates about
200 flights per day on the affected aircraft but has been able to maintain
about 30 of those flights by switching them to other aircraft types.
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said on Tuesday during an employee meeting
that "we are going to approach this, No. 1, acknowledging our mistake. …
We are going to work with the [National Transportation Safety Board] who is
investigating the accident itself to find out what the cause is."
After the FAA notified Boeing of its formal investigation,
Calhoun said in a statement that "we will cooperate fully and
transparently with the FAA and the NTSB on their investigations."
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