Boeing's Max 9 Crisis Deepens As Plane Construction Flaws Revealed

The larger issue - as if part of plane falling off in mid-flight isn't large enough - is that Boeing has had quality problems for several years. Two crashes of earlier models of this plane were fatal. 

Some of the concerns focus on Boeing attempts to cut costs by using robotics for both construction and quality control - and by trying to quietly reduce quality control generally because, in effect, that is not what its airline customers pay for - they assume it is built in. But systemic risk is not something a manufacturer like this can afford for its brand or its product. JL

Andrew Ross Sorkin reports in the New York Times:

The trouble at Boeing is deepening after safety inspectors at Alaska Airlines and United Airlines found loose bolts on some 737 Max jetliners, drawing scrutiny to the quality control process for one of the world’s best-selling aircraft models.Fatal aircraft crashes in 2018 and 2019, which involved a different Max model, forced a global grounding of those aircraft that lasted 20 months. “They’ve had quality control problems for a long time now, and this is just another manifestation of that,” Tim Clark, the C.E.O. of the airline Emirates and a major plane buyer. Core criticisms around production and the reliability of its suppliers have lingered.

New questions for Boeing

The trouble at Boeing is deepening after safety inspectors at Alaska Airlines and United Airlines found loose bolts on some grounded 737 Max jetliners, drawing scrutiny to the quality control process for one of the world’s best-selling aircraft models.

The findings raise questions about whether regulators will call for broader safety recommendations for the grounded Max 9 planes. They also intensify pressure on David Calhoun, Boeing’s C.E.O.

He was brought in to restore the company’s reputation in 2020 following Max crashes in Asia and Africa, but many of the core criticisms around production and the reliability of its suppliers have lingered.

Boeing’s shares tumbled 8 percent on Monday, making it the worst performer on the S&P 500. They were down nearly 0.9 percent today in premarket trading.

One focus is on whether the plane’s panel was properly attached. National Transportation Safety Board investigators said on Monday that four so-called stop bolts would ordinarily be used to keep the panel, or door plug, firmly in place. But the plug, which was recovered from a science teacher’s backyard in Oregon, was found with no such bolts. “We don’t know if they were there or if, again, they came out during the violent explosive decompression event,” said Jennifer Homendy, the N.T.S.B. chair.

The affected plane entered service in November, but had already racked up three warnings about cabin pressure, the N.T.S.B. said.

A former employee at Spirit AeroSystems, a key Boeing supplier, alleged in court documents that they warned of “excessive amount of defects” related to the door plug, according to The Lever.

Flight disruptions are expected to continue while airlines inspect Max 9s. Safety checks have already led to hundreds of flight cancellations since last week’s harrowing in-flight blowout on an Alaska Max 9.

United’s and Alaska‘s combined fleets include more than 140 of these planes. Alaska said Monday that it had found “some loose hardware” on some grounded planes, while United detected “bolts that needed additional tightening” around the door plug on roughly 10 aircraft, according to Reuters.

The turbulence is growing for Boeing. The company is set to host an all-hands meeting today in which it will stress its commitment to safety.

But customers are getting antsy: “They’ve had quality control problems for a long time now, and this is just another manifestation of that,” Tim Clark, the C.E.O. of the Middle Eastern airline Emirates and a major plane buyer, told Bloomberg.

Could the crisis spread beyond the Max 9? Fatal aircraft crashes in 2018 and 2019, which involved a different Max model, forced a global grounding of those Max aircraft that lasted roughly 20 months.

Ronald Epstein, an analyst at Bank of America, wrote to investors this weekend that greater regulatory scrutiny could slow the certification process around newer Max 7s and Max 10s. He added that “this could temporarily impact 737 Max-9 deliveries, depending on what the F.A.A. and N.T.S.B. as well as foreign regulators conclude.”