David Shepardson and Allison Lampert
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Outgoing Boeing (NYSE:) CEO Dave Calhoun will testify before a U.S. Senate panel on June 18 after a series of incidents raised safety and quality concerns and led regulators to limit the planemaker’s production of its best-selling 737 MAX plane. .
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who chairs the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, said Calhoun will testify on a range of issues.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in February barred Boeing from increasing production of the 737 MAX after a door panel exploded during a Jan. 5 flight on a 737 MAX 9 operated by Alaska Airlines.
Blumenthal said that after two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people, “Boeing has vowed to review its safety practices and culture. That promise turned out to be empty, and the American people deserve an explanation.”
Calhoun said he would leave by the end of the year as part of a broader leadership shakeup as Boeing faces multiple government investigations and pressure from investors and airlines to find a new CEO.
Long-time Boeing board member and General Electric (NYSE:) The veteran took over the company in 2020 after the ouster of his controversial predecessor.
Spirit AeroSystems (NYSE:) CEO Pat Shanahan and Boeing Commercial Airplanes President Stephanie Pope are among the contenders for Boeing’s top job, according to industry sources.
Boeing said it welcomes Calhoun’s opportunity to discuss the company’s efforts to improve safety and quality during his Senate testimony.
During an April hearing before Blumenthal’s committee, a Boeing engineer testified that the company made dangerous production cuts on some planes and sidelined him when he raised safety concerns, the company alleged.
Blumenthal said Calhoun’s testimony was a necessary step to meaningfully address Boeing’s failures, restore public trust and restore its central role in the American economy and national defense.
Howard McKenzie, Boeing’s chief engineer, will accompany Calhoun but will not testify, the committee said.
Late Wednesday, the Senate Commerce Committee said FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker will testify before the panel on June 13 about the agency’s oversight of Boeing and other aircraft makers.
In late February, Whitaker gave Boeing 90 days to develop a comprehensive plan to address “systemic quality control issues.”
The US Justice Department said last month that Boeing had violated its obligations under a 2021 agreement that shielded the planemaker from criminal prosecution over the fatal 737 MAX crashes. Boeing also faces a criminal investigation into the Alaska Airlines incident.
Boeing said it believed it had complied with the terms of the deferred prosecution agreement.