How a rollercoaster week left Boeing's credibility on the line

Boeing is reeling from a week of turmoil that has snagged production and development timelines and tested confidence in CEO Dave Calhoun almost a month after the mid-air blowout of a dummy door on a 737 MAX 9, industry insiders said. From Seattle where 737s are built, to Washington where they are regulated and Dublin, centre of the air finance world, the company has faced a perfect storm of competing pressures. In just eight days, Boeing has seen an unprecedented ceiling on 737 production growth imposed by regulators, bowed to lawmaker pressure to drop a request for a temporary exemption from design rules for its next model and faced a possible revolt by a top customer. The tumult is not over. US investigators are soon expected to release a preliminary report on the Jan. 5 Alaska Airlines blowout after visiting the 737 factory last Friday. The head of the FAA will appear at a US House hearing on Tuesday and Calhoun may face lawmakers in a hearing as early as March. The FAA will be asked whether it found "persistent" quality issues, according to a preparatory letter reported by Reuters. Industry experts said the period is shaping up as a critical test of management's ability to overcome Boeing's latest crisis amid efforts to be more open than lawyer-crafted responses to MAX crashes that killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019. "What they need to do now is restore credibility with the FAA and customers, and obviously somebody will have to pay the price," said Adam Pilarski, senior vice-president at Avitas and former chief economist at Douglas Aircraft, now part of Boeing. "I can't see how the CEO can survive and how he should survive," the well-known industry veteran said.<br/>