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Written by David Shepherdson and Rajesh Kumar Singh
WASHINGTON/CHICAGO (Reuters) – Chief Executive Officer David Calhoun weighs in after major airline leaders voice concerns about Alaska Airlines’ mid-air emergency and ongoing production issues. The company plans to discuss this with Larry Kellner, Boeing’s chairman of the board, at a meeting that will not be held until 2020, a person familiar with the matter said.
The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that a group of U.S. airline CEOs is seeking a meeting with Boeing directors to express their concerns over the Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 crash. , said the accident was an unusual manifestation of problems at the manufacturing company and dissatisfaction with its leader, Calhoun.
An aviation source familiar with the meeting told Reuters that the airline wanted to express concerns directly to Kellner, who previously served as CEO of Continental Airlines, and that airlines wanted to address ongoing delays and quality issues directly. He said he understands the airline’s frustration.
In the U.S., the CEOs of American Airlines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Alaska Airlines are scheduled to meet with Kellner, another airline official said.
In addition to Boeing, at least one board member is expected to participate in the talks, as will a major foreign airline customer, a person familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity. Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun supports the meeting but will not attend, company officials said.
Wall Street analysts said the decision to hold the meeting without Calhoun did not bode well for the CEO’s longevity at the company. The analyst declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Boeing said it has actively focused on listening to customers at all levels of the company.
American Airlines, United Airlines and Alaska Airlines declined to comment.
Southwest Airlines said it had nothing to report. “We are in ongoing and frequent communication with Boeing, and this is not new and will continue,” the company said.
Calhoun served on Boeing’s board of directors for 10 years before becoming CEO in 2020 following two 737 MAX 8 crashes. He vowed to resolve quality issues and ensure accidents like the Alaska Airlines midair panel explosion “will never happen again.”
Michael O’Leary, CEO of Ryanair, Boeing’s biggest European 737 MAX customer, told Reuters on Wednesday that he was meeting with company executives in Dublin to discuss long delivery delays. .
Airline executives, frustrated by backlogs and delays in aircraft procurement, have begun cutting routes and exploring alternative ways to meet passenger demand expected to reach record levels this spring.
Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Michael Whitaker said Tuesday that Boeing must improve its safety culture and address quality issues before being allowed to ramp up production of the 737 MAX.
In late January, the FAA took the unprecedented step of telling Boeing that it would not allow it to expand production of the 737 MAX in response to the Alaska Airlines mid-air emergency.
Whitaker said the FAA will only grant increases if Boeing operates its quality systems safely, and that it has the tools to hold Boeing accountable and intends to fully utilize them. He added.
Whitaker said Boeing is authorized to produce 38 737s per month, but current production is actually lower than that.
“We made the decision to suppress interest rates on the 737 program, and we will feel the impact for months to come,” Boeing Chief Financial Officer Brian West said Wednesday. Ta.
The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into the January explosion of a MAX 9 cabin panel. The National Transportation Safety Board said the plane that lost its cabin panel was missing four key bolts.
(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington and Rajesh Kumar Singh in Chicago; Additional reporting by Alison Lampert in Montreal and Kannaki Deka in Bengaluru; Editing by Jamie Freed)
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