By David Shepardson and Allison Lampert
WASHINGTON/MONTREAL (Reuters) -Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun will testify before a U.S. Senate panel on June 18 after a series of incidents raised concerns about safety and quality and regulators barred the planemaker from expanding production of its best-selling 737 MAX.
Senator Richard Blumenthal, who chairs the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, said Calhoun would testify about a series of issues. The Federal Aviation Administration in February barred Boeing from boosting 737 MAX production after a door panel blew out during a Jan. 5 flight on a 737 MAX 9 operated by Alaska Airlines.
Blumenthal said that after two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 killed 346 people “Boeing made a promise to overhaul its safety practices and culture. That promise proved empty, and the American people deserve an explanation.”
During a hearing in April before Blumenthal’s committee, a Boeing engineer testified the company took dangerous manufacturing shortcuts with certain planes and sidelined him when he raised safety concerns, claims the company disputes.
Blumenthal added Calhoun’s testimony “is a necessary step in meaningfully addressing Boeing’s failures, regaining public trust, and restoring the company’s central role in the American economy and national defense.”
Boeing has already shaken up its management shakeup and faces government investigations. Calhoun has said he will leave by the end of the year. The company said it welcomed the chance for the CEO to discuss its actions “to strengthen safety and quality and ensure that commercial air travel remains the safest form of transportation.”
FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker in late February gave Boeing 90 days to develop a comprehensive plan to address “systemic quality-control issues.” In the aftermath of the incident, Boeing abandoned a bid for a key waiver for a new version of the MAX that has significantly delayed the plane’s introduction.
Last month, the U.S. Justice Department said Boeing had breached its obligations in a 2021 agreement that shielded the planemaker from criminal prosecution over fatal 737 MAX crashes. Boeing faces a criminal probe into the Alaska incident as well.
Boeing has said it believes it has honored the terms of the deferred prosecution agreement.
(Reporting by David Shepardson and Allison Lampert; Editing by Leslie Adler and David Gregorio)
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