Authors: David Shepardson and Allison Lampert
WASHINGTON (Reuters): Outgoing Boeing (NYSE:) CEO Dave Calhoun will testify before a U.S. Senate panel on June 18 after a series of incidents that raised safety and quality concerns and prompted regulators to limit the manufacturer’s production of its best-selling 737 plane aircraft MAX.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who chairs the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, said Calhoun will testify on a range of issues.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in February banned Boeing from increasing production of the 737 MAX after a door panel exploded on January 5 during a 737 MAX 9 flight operated by Alaska Airlines.
Blumenthal said that after two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people, “Boeing promised to change its safety practices and culture. This promise turned out to be empty and the Americans deserve an explanation.”
Calhoun said he would leave by the end of the year as part of a broader management shake-up as Boeing faces multiple government investigations and pressure from investors and airlines to find a new CEO.
A long-time member of the Boeing board and General Electric (NYSE:) veteran took the helm of the company in 2020 after ousting his scandal-tainted predecessor.
Spirit AeroSystems (NYSE:) CEO Pat Shanahan and Boeing Commercial Airplanes president Stephanie Pope are vying for Boeing’s top job, according to industry sources.
Boeing said it welcomed the opportunity for Calhoun to discuss its safety and quality improvement efforts during his Senate testimony.
During an April hearing before Blumenthal’s committee, a Boeing engineer testified that the company took dangerous shortcuts in the production of some planes and sidelined him when he raised safety issues, the company claims, disputing.
Blumenthal said Calhoun’s testimony was a necessary step to meaningfully address Boeing’s failures, regain public trust and restore its central role in the U.S. economy and national defense.
The committee stated that Howard McKenzie, Boeing’s chief engineer, would accompany Calhoun but would not testify.
Late Wednesday night, the Senate Commerce Committee said FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker will testify before the panel on June 13 on the agency’s oversight of Boeing and other planemakers.
In late February, Whitaker gave Boeing 90 days to develop a comprehensive plan to address “systemic quality control issues.”
The U.S. Department of Justice found last month that Boeing had breached its obligations under a 2021 agreement that shielded the planemaker from criminal prosecution over the deadly 737 MAX crashes. Boeing also faces criminal investigation into the Alaska Airlines incident.
Boeing said it believed it had complied with the terms of the deferred prosecution agreement.
