Boeing: Aircraft firm accused of being 'happy' to rely on 'crappy stuff' from subcontractor after Alaska Airlines blowout

Boeing has been accused of being “happy” to rely on “crappy stuff” from its subcontractor “because it’s cheap” after the Alaska Airlines blowout incident. A former US congressman, Peter DeFazio, who chaired the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee until 2022, said Boeing has been relying on the “crappy stuff” supplied by Spirit AeroSystems and the focus needs to turn to the subcontractor.

Spirit AeroSystems built the door plug that blew out of the Alaska Airlines plane shortly after it took off on Friday 5 January. Mr DeFazio's comments came yesterday (Tuesday 9 January) after he led an investigation into Boeing following the grounding of all of its MAX jets in March 2019. These jets were grounded for 20 months following two crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia which killed 346 people between them.

Boeing chief executive Dave Calhoun has acknowledged the company made a mistake after six crew members were injured on flight 1282 from Portland to California on 5 January. In his first public comments on the incident, Mr Calhoun told staff it would work with regulators to make sure it "can never happen again". According to an excerpt released by Boeing, Mr Calhoun told employees: "We're going to approach this number one acknowledging our mistake. We're going to approach it with 100% and complete transparency every step of the way."

On Monday (8 January), Spirit said in a statement that "quality and product integrity" are a priority. It said: "Spirit is a committed partner with Boeing on the 737 programme, and we continue to work together with them on this matter." 

Both Alaska Airlines and United Airlines, two of the US carriers that fly the Boeing 737 Max 9 jet, reported finding multiple loose bolts in other planes. Formal inspections are pending, awaiting final documentation from Boeing and The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The FAA is continuing to inspect each 737-9 before an "airworthiness certificate is issued and cleared for delivery".