Boeing calls an all-hands employee meeting to discuss safety following Alaska Airlines incident
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
A piece of the fuselage of a Boeing 737-9 MAX tore off during an Alaska Airlines flight from Portland.
Boeing CEO David Calhoun is calling for a company-wide meeting to address Friday's incident.
The meeting will address the company's response to customers and regulators.
Boeing CEO David Calhoun is calling for a companywide meeting to address the company's response to Friday's Alaska Airlines incident where a piece of the fuselage of a Boeing 737-9 MAX blew out during ascent, according to reports.
Dominic Gates, aviation journalist with the Seattle Times, reported Sunday on X that an internal email showed Calhoun scheduled the meeting for Tuesday, telling employees that he would be reinforcing Boeing's commitment to "safety, quality, integrity and transparency" as regulators continue investigating the accident. Bloomberg also reported on the all-hands meeting.
"While we've made progress and strengthened our safety management and quality control systems and processes in the last few years, situations like this are a reminder that we must remain focused on continuing to improve every day," Calhoun wrote.
In a statement to Business Insider, Boeing confirmed the employee email and noted that Calhoun had canceled a leadership summit for the company vice presidents to "focus on our support to Alaska Airlines and the ongoing National Transportation Safety Board investigation." The summit was originally scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.
On Friday, passengers aboard a Boeing 737-9 MAX jet heading from Portland to Ontario, California, were left terrified after a plug fitted in the airplane's aft emergency door fell out, resulting in depressurization of the cabin. Several passengers were treated for minor injuries, Alaska and the National Transportation Safety Board announced, though no deaths were reported.
The FAA later ordered that 171 Max 9 planes, including those operated by Alaska and United Airlines, be grounded for inspections. Alaska Airlines announced that it had canceled 170 flights on Sunday, affecting 25,000 passengers.
The NTSB is now leading an investigation into the cause of the incident.
Boeing has said it will comply with the investigation. Following Friday's incident, increased scrutiny befell the already beleaguered aircraft manufacturer regarding its approach to safety.
Previously, the company's 737 Max 8 plane had been involved in two high-profile crashes that killed a total of 346 people in 2018 and 2019. The 2019 incident involving Ethiopian Airlines resulted in dozens of countries temporarily grounding the aircraft.
Investigators later found that Boeing made decisions that contributed to a lack of safety on its craft, and the company had to pay billions to settle after being criminally charged for it.
Read the original article on Business Insider
