Manufacturer still faces tough recovery

Boeing is embarking on another rebuilding year.

A year ago, the company was thrust back into the spotlight for concerns over safety and quality when a fuselage panel that covered an unused emergency exit door blew out midair from a nearly new Boeing 737 Max 9 operated by Alaska Airlines. The accident terrified those on board though no one was seriously injured and the plane made a safe emergency landing back in Portland, Oregon.

Key bolts were not installed before the aircraft left Boeing’s Renton, Washington, 737 factory, a preliminary National Transportation Safety Board report found, again tarnishing the image of the marquee U.S. exporter.

Boeing’s stock price is down more than 30% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 is up nearly 27%.

Boeing’s leaders have spent the past 12 months making major changes that span replacements in its executive ranks, including a new chief executive, to more robust training for hundreds of factory workers, many of whom are new.

The company on Friday outlined its progress over the past year, including initiating random quality audits at factories. Boeing said it has “significantly” reduced defects in 737 fuselages made by Spirit AeroSystems, which it is buying back, and cut down on so-called traveled work, where tasks to build aircraft are done out of sequence, in an effort to reduce flaws. The manufacturer also said it addressed much of the feedback from employees provided during sessions with management throughout the year.

Since the accident, the Federal Aviation Administration increased its oversight of Boeing, capping its production of its best-selling 737 Max jets, though output is still below those levels. FAA chief Mike Whitaker, who said he will step down on Jan. 20, warned the company on Friday that “enhanced oversight is here to stay.”

He said Boeing’s turnaround “is not a one-year project.”

“What’s needed is a fundamental cultural shift at Boeing that’s oriented around safety and quality above profits. That will require sustained effort and commitment from Boeing, and unwavering scrutiny on our part,” Whitaker said in a statement.

Boeing has not posted an annual profit since 2018.

That year was the first of two fatal crashes of its 737 Maxes that killed 346 people — Boeing’s worst crisis in recent memory. A flight-control system was implicated in both crashes, and the aircraft was grounded worldwide for almost two years.

Other quality flaws emerged over the years, delaying deliveries of aircraft from the 737 Max, 787 Dreamliner and the pair of 747s that will serve as Air Force One, among others.

Since 2019, Boeing has lost more than $30 billion, and its new CEO is tasked with ensuring Boeing can increase production without defects that have slowed deliveries in the past.

In August, the company brought in Kelly Ortberg, a former CEO of Rockwell Collins with three decades of experience in aerospace, as Boeing’s new chief executive, replacing Dave Calhoun.

Weeks into Ortberg’s tenure, Boeing machinists went on strike for nearly two months, a work stoppage that ended after they approved a new four-year labor deal with 38% raises. Some longtime workers sought to have Boeing reinstate pensions, but that was not part of the new labor deal.

The strike, however, idled production of most of Boeing’s jets, though factories have resumed output in recent weeks. It is setting Boeing up for another year of focusing on stabilizing production to get jetliners to airlines before ramping up further, while Airbus continues to top Boeing delivery volumes.

Boeing raised billions this fall to stave off the crisis. Ortberg also said the company would cut 10% of its workforce of about 170,000 people. Notices started going out late last year. Ortberg said in October that the company has to focus on its core businesses and that it would review its portfolio.

“I think that we’re better off … doing less and doing it better than doing more and not doing it well,” he said on his first earnings call in October.

He spent early weeks of his tenure visiting factories and moved to the Seattle area, where most of Boeing’s production is centered, and has won praise from airline executives who had grown exasperated with the company’s rolling aircraft delivery during a post-pandemic travel boom.

Bob Jordan, chief executive of all-Boeing 737 airline Southwest, cautioned in an interview last month that it is “really early” in Boeing’s recovery but said he thinks Ortberg understands the depth of the issues at the company.

“He’s not looking at this as a Band-Aid. He’s looking at this as a wholesale change to Boeing,” he said.