Boeing's CEO vowed to staff that 'we're going to get better' as he rallied employees at a key supplier in the 737 Max 9 saga

Pete Syme
·2 min read
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  • Dave Calhoun held an employee town hall at Spirit AeroSystems on Wednesday.

  • "We're going to get better" because Boeing and Spirit staff will "speak the same language," he said.

  • The FAA named Spirit as it announced an investigation into Boeing's manufacturing process.

Boeing's CEO encouraged staff at one of its key suppliers as the Federal Aviation Administration ramped up its investigation into both companies.

Dave Calhoun held an employee town hall alongside Spirit AeroSystems' CEO and board chair on Wednesday. Spirit is a Kansas-based company that builds the fuselages and other parts of Boeing planes, including the 737 Max 9.

"We're going to get better, not because the two of us are talking, but because the engineers at Boeing, the mechanics at Boeing, the inspectors at Boeing, the engineers at Spirit, the mechanics at Spirit, the inspectors at Spirit — they're going to speak the same language on this in every way, shape, or form," Calhoun said.

He added: "We're going to learn from it, and then we're going to apply it to literally everything else we do together."

Also on Wednesday, the FAA announced it is investigating Boeing's manufacturing process and production lines, including "those involving subcontractor Spirit AeroSystems."

That was the first time it named Spirit as the FAA continues to release updates related to the Alaska Airlines blowout.

Spirit built the door plug which came off the 737 Max 9 on January 5, leaving a gaping hole in the fuselage. The jet returned to Portland International Airport 20 minutes after taking off, and nobody was seriously injured.

The National Transportation Safety Board is testing the recovered door plug to determine whether four missing bolts were ever installed.

Alaska Airlines and United Airlines, the two biggest operators of the 737 Max 9, also found loose hardware on some of the grounded aircraft.

171 Boeing 737 Max 9 jets have been grounded by the FAA. The first 40 inspections have been completed after Boeing revised its initial instructions to operators, but the FAA says all such planes with a door plug will remain grounded pending its final approval.

Read the original article on Business Insider