Boeing adds new manufacturing quality control checks

WASHINGTON: US aviation giant Boeing announced Friday that it has implemented over a dozen new quality control checks as it looks to rebuild trust following several recent high-profile incidents.

The company has been under pressure from US regulators following several safety scares, including a mid-flight Alaska Airlines panel blowout that required an emergency landing in January 2024.

Boeing’s new ‘Safety & Quality Plan’ includes enhanced training for quality control inspectors and mechanics, and a new random quality audit when aircraft parts are removed and returned, it said in a statement posted on its website.

The company said it has also worked to “significantly” reduce defects in the 737 fuselage assembly at Spirit AeroSystems, which manufactured the faulty panel, “by increasing inspection points at build locations and implementing customer quality approval process”. Boeing’s plan follows an audit by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) early last year, which gave the company 90 days to devise a plan to significantly upgrade its quality control processes. “We’re actively monitoring the results and keeping a close eye on work at key Boeing facilities,” FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker wrote in a blog post published Thursday.

“But this is not a one-year project,” added Whitaker, who is due to step down later this month.“What’s needed is a fundamental cultural shift at Boeing that’s oriented around safety and quality above profits,” he said. “That will require sustained effort and commitment from Boeing, and unwavering scrutiny on our part.”

2024 was a tough year for Boeing, which also had to contend with a seven-week strike by some 33,000 workers that paralysed production at two crucial plants and slowed down the production of its aircraft. In October, Boeing unveiled plans to reduce its global workforce by 10 per cent, and shortly afterwards posted its biggest quarterly net loss in four years.