US transportation chief to meet with Boeing CEO on safety efforts

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he plans to visit a Boeing factory in Renton, Washington, on Thursday to ensure the U.S. planemaker is maintaining the highest level of safety, six years after a deadly 737 MAX crash in Ethiopia.

Duffy will travel to Seattle with acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau as the Trump administration has vowed stringent oversight of Boeing, also following a January 2024 mid-air panel blowout on a new Alaska Airlines 737 MAX.

The pair are expected to meet with Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, who will testify on April 2 before the Senate Commerce Committee on the planemaker's efforts to improve its safety culture and quality. They will also visit the 737 factory and meet with FAA inspectors.

Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Duffy announced the factory visit on the sixth anniversary of the crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 that killed all 157 people on board, including eight U.S. citizens, and led to changes in the 737 MAX's design and pilot training.

"I met with several families of the passengers of flight 302 on February 25th," Duffy said on X. "My door and this department are always open to them for answers and to help them navigate their grief."

The FAA said the visit to the planemaker's factory was "part of this administration's commitment to ensure Boeing fixes its systemic quality control issues."

Duffy said in January that Boeing needed "tough love." President Donald Trump has yet to nominate a candidate for permanent FAA administrator.

In January 2024, former President Joe Biden's FAA chief Mike Whitaker imposed a 38 planes per month production cap after a door panel missing four key bolts flew off the Alaska Airlines 737 MAX.

Whitaker said in January the tougher oversight of Boeing would continue indefinitely with the agency last year boosting inspectors at the factory.

Whitaker acknowledged last year that prior oversight "was too hands off" and said fixing Boeing's safety culture could take five years. The FAA announced a new audit of Boeing in October.

In May 2022, the FAA approved a three-year renewal of a program that delegates some aircraft certification tasks to the planemaker, rather than the five-year renewal Boeing had requested. The approval will expire in two months.