Overview

• The FAA cited hundreds of quality-system violations at Boeing’s Renton 737 plant and Spirit AeroSystems’ Wichita fuselage factory for the period from September 2023 to February 2024.
• Regulators allege Boeing presented two unairworthy aircraft for airworthiness certificates and failed to follow its own quality procedures.
• The agency says a non-ODA Boeing employee pressured an ODA designee to approve a noncompliant 737 MAX to meet a delivery schedule.
• The FAA said it used its maximum statutory civil penalty authority and continues to perform its own airworthiness inspections on every 737 MAX and 787 before delivery.
• The enforcement step follows the NTSB’s June finding that the Alaska Airlines MAX 9 door-plug blowout resulted from multiple system failures, including four missing bolts, and the FAA has not decided whether to lift the 737 MAX production cap of 38 per month.