The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday proposed fining Boeing $3.1 million for a series of safety violations tied to its 737 MAX program, including issues linked to the January 2024 Alaska Airlines mid-air emergency and allegations that Boeing employees interfered with federal safety oversight.
The FAA said it uncovered "hundreds of quality system violations" during inspections at Boeing's 737 factory in Renton, Washington, and at Spirit AeroSystems' facility in Wichita, Kansas, which builds fuselages for the MAX. The agency said Boeing also presented two unairworthy aircraft for airworthiness certification and failed to follow its own quality system procedures.
In one of the most serious findings, the FAA said a Boeing employee pressured another Boeing worker acting as an Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) representative - a person authorized to perform FAA certification tasks - to sign off on a 737 MAX aircraft the representative had determined was not compliant. The FAA said the pressure was applied to help Boeing meet its delivery schedule.
The proposed $3,139,319 penalty represents the maximum civil fine the FAA can levy under current law. Boeing has 30 days to respond to the penalty letters. The company and Spirit AeroSystems did not immediately comment on the FAA's announcement.
The action comes after the National Transportation Safety Board in June criticized Boeing for failing to provide adequate training, guidance, and oversight to prevent the Alaska Airlines MAX 9 door plug blowout in January. The NTSB said Boeing's failure to install four key bolts during production and lapses in quality control led to the mid-air incident that triggered a global grounding of MAX 9 aircraft and renewed scrutiny of Boeing's manufacturing culture.
