Overview

• In a Tuesday letter, Sen. Richard Blumenthal asked Administrator Bryan Bedford to detail how the FAA calculated the proposed penalty and whether any discretion or future reductions are contemplated.
• The FAA has said it applied the maximum statutory penalty, which Blumenthal argues highlights shortcomings in current law for addressing systemic safety lapses.
• Blumenthal requested a list of each penalized violation, explanations for any unpenalized or below‑maximum violations, all FAA–Boeing correspondence on the case, and a staff briefing.
• FAA inspections from September 2023 to February 2024 documented hundreds of quality‑system violations at Boeing’s 737 plant and Spirit AeroSystems’ fuselage factory, including two unairworthy aircraft presented for approval and a pressure incident to sign off a noncompliant jet.
• Following the January 2024 Alaska Airlines 737 MAX blowout, the MAX 9 was grounded for two weeks, a production cap of 38 per month remains in place, and the Justice Department opened a criminal probe and found Boeing out of compliance with a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement.