Airline CEOs request meeting with Boeing in wake of 737 MAX blowout: report
NY Post
A group of major US airline CEOs have reportedly requested a meeting with Boeing’s board to express concerns over production problems following near-disastrous fuselage blowout aboard an Alaska Airlines flight.
The airline chiefs want Boeing directors to spell out their plan for fixing quality problems at the aircraft maker as US regulators scrutinize the company following the Jan. 5 incident on a 737 MAX, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal on Thursday.
Boeing has responded by offering meetings with chairman Larry Kellner, a former chief executive of Continental Airlines, as well as other board members as early as next week, sources told the Journal.
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun — who fought back tears while “acknowledging our mistake” that caused the blowout at 16,000 feet and led to an emergency landing — is reportedly encouraging the meetings, the Virginia-based aviation giant confirmed to the Journal.
However, Calhoun isn’t expected to attend any of the planned meetings.
Though it wasn’t immediately clear which other airline bosses would be in attendance, Boeing’s 737 MAX jets are most widely used by Alaska Airlines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines in the US.
