Transportation
Boeing Steps Up Inspections, to Review Quality After Blowout
- Planemaker to open factories to airlines to boost confidence
- Actions are separate from FAA’s increased oversight, Deal says
Alaska Airlines N704AL grounded in a hangar at Portland International Airport.
Photographer: Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images
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Boeing Co. will step up inspections of aircraft during production and open its factories to airline customers as the planemaker bolsters its response to a near-disaster on a 737 Max 9 jet earlier this month.
A Boeing team has been sent to its biggest supplier, Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc., to inspect and approve mid-exit door plugs before fuselage sections can be shipped to the planemaker, commercial aircraft chief Stan Deal said in a letter to employees on Monday.