Boeing CEO to tell US Congress planemaker’s culture is ‘far from perfect’
WASHINGTON — Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun will tell a U.S. Senate committee on today that the planemaker understands concerns about its safety culture after a January mid-air emergency involving an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 raised widespread alarm.
“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 will tell the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, according to his written statement first reported by Reuters. “I know full well that this is an industry where we simply must get it right, every time.”
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Since the Jan. 5 mid-air blowout of a door plug on a 737 MAX 9 jet, scrutiny of the planemaker by regulators and airlines has intensified. Boeing has shaken up management and Calhoun said in March that he will step down by year-end.
“Boeing must repair a broken safety culture and that is management’s task ahead,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat who chairs the panel holding Tuesday’s hearing. “It should have been done long ago.”
He noted that the MAX 8 suffered two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people. “Boeing has lost its luster and indeed its reputation for excellence as a result of self-inflicted wounds,” Blumenthal said.
Calhoun said the plan has “specific metrics, which we will use to hold ourselves accountable.
