Amid the turmoil, American aircraft manufacturer Boeing announced on Wednesday, February 21, the immediate departure of the program manager for the 737 MAX model which has faced routine problems.
In a letter sent to group employees by Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA) general director Stanley Deal, which Agence France-Presse (AFP) was able to consult, the group announced the departure of vice-president Ed Clark. President and, from 2021, General Director of the 737 program, then “Nearly eighteen years of dedicated service”.
Katie Ringgold, currently vice president of 737 delivery operations, will succeed Mr. Clark. The American aircraft manufacturer also announced a management restructuring at BCA, including the appointment of Elizabeth Lund as vice-president responsible for quality.
Mr. Clark was also head of the Renton factory, not far from the group’s historic headquarters in Seattle (Washington State) in the country’s northwest, where an Alaska Airlines flight from Portland (Oregon) to California was involved in an incident in January 2024 during final assembly of the 737 MAX 9. Then a condemned door came loose from the cabin.
The incident caused few minor injuries, but the American Civil Aviation Regulatory Agency (FAA) had already taken delivery of 171 of the 218 737 MAX 9 planes. A preliminary report by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) concluded that four bolts securing the doors were missing.
Economic consequences
The CEOs of Alaska Airlines and United Airlines, the two American companies affected by the model’s grounding, expressed their anger and frustration with Boeing, asking what the company plans to do to improve its product quality.
“We are the cause of the problem and we understand itBoeing CEO David Calhoun said on January 31. We understand why they are angry and we will work to earn their trust. »
Mr. Calhoun said the company has strengthened inspections at its factories and suppliers and hired a retired Navy admiral to review quality management. It also shut down the 737 MAX assembly line for a day so workers could discuss quality and safety.
The 737 MAX had already been grounded for nearly two years after two aircraft crashed; The first, at the end of 2018, concerned the plane of the Indonesian company Lion Air, the second, at the beginning of 2019, belonged to the carrier Ethiopian Airlines, due to which more than 350 people died. In both cases, a problem with new software was the cause of the crash.
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Criticism and economic consequences sink the American aeronautical company. Boeing shares closed down 1% on Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange. They have lost 19% – or about 27 billion dollars (about 25 billion euros) in stock market value – since the door incident.
