Boeing CEO admits mistake after 737 Max 9 mid-air panel blowout

The plane maker is approaching the incident with '100 per cent and complete transparency', Dave Calhoun tells company-wide staff meeting

A plastic sheet covers an area of the fuselage of the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft outside a hangar at Portland International Airport. AFP

Boeing should accept the fault and make amends in the wake of an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9’s mid-air door panel blowout that triggered concerns about the quality standards maintained by the plane maker, its chief executive has said.

Dave Calhoun made the comments during a company-wide meeting called to reinforce safety as the top priority for Boeing after a door plug blew out on a Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft last week.

There were 177 people on board the Alaska Airlines plane, which had to make an emergency landing shortly after departing from Portland International Airport in Oregon.

The flight crew reported decompression issues after the blowout forced the plane to make an emergency landing 20 minutes later. None of those on-board were injured.

“We’re going to approach this, No 1, acknowledging our mistake,” Dave Calhoun told company employees on Tuesday.

“We’re going to approach it with 100 per cent and complete transparency every step of the way.”

Several other senior Boeing executives also addressed company staff from its Renton, Washington, factory where the 737 is assembled, with their remarks broadcast to workers at other locations, according to Bloomberg.

The US Federal Aviation Administration ordered the immediate grounding of 171 Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft, whose customers include flydubai, Southwest, United, American Airlines, Ryanair, Air Canada, Turkish Airlines and some Chinese airlines.

Regulators around the world say they are “closely monitoring” the situation.

The UAE's General Civil Aviation Authority said that none of the airlines in the Emirates operating the Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft were affected.

Boeing's meeting on Tuesday was regarding the plane maker's “response to this accident and reinforcing our focus on and our commitment to safety, quality, integrity and transparency”, Mr Calhoun said.

“We are going to work with the NTSB [National Transportation Safety Board] itself who is investigating this incident to see what caused it,” he said.

The company operating out of Arlington, Virginia said it's also in talks with its customers with Mr Calhoun stating that such incidents “shake them to the bone, just like it shook me”.

“I’ve got kids, I’ve got grandkids and so do you,” he said. “This stuff matters. Every detail matters.”

Boeing Commercial Airplanes chief executive Stan Deal, tasked with raising output while also maintaining quality at Boeing’s largest unit, also addressed staff alongside Mr Calhoun.

Mike Delaney, Boeing's chief safety officer, who took charge in the wake of the previous crisis involving the Boeing Max 8 jets that were grounded after two fatal crashes killed a combined 346 people, also spoke at the meeting.

Earlier this week, Boeing issued guidelines on how to conduct inspections, an initial step before the FAA approves a return to flight for 737 Max 9 planes.

United Airlines on Monday said it found loose bolts in Boeing 737 Max jets during inspections.

“Since we began preliminary inspections on Saturday, we have found instances that appear to relate to installation issues in the door plug – for example, bolts that needed additional tightening,” the company said.

On Monday, the NTSB board chair Jennifer Homendy said that her agency would consider broadening the investigation.

Such a move would bring deeper scrutiny for Boeing and its manufacturing processes, and magnify issues while the US plane maker seeks to get the aircraft back into service, according to a Bloomberg report.