Boeing vows to own up to mistakes, approach 737 Max blowout with ‘100% and complete transparency’

Calhoun said that incidents like these shake airlines “to the bone, just like it shook me.”

“They have confidence in all of us — they do — and they will again,” he continued. “But we’re going to have to demonstrate it, by our actions, our willingness to work directly and transparently with them, and to make sure they understand that every airplane that Boeing has its name on that’s in the sky is in fact safe.”

He continued: “But we need to know we’re starting from a very anxious moment with our customers.”

The remarks and the meeting were first reported by The Wall Street Journal. The panel blowout has raised fresh concerns about the state of the 737 Max — part of Boeing’s workhorse 737 models — after two fatal crashes led to groundings of the aircraft in 2019 and a larger probe that damaged the jet maker’s reputation. Production issues over the past few years with Boeing’s larger 787 jets have also led to halts in deliveries.

Investigators are still looking into the cause of the incident on the Alaska Airlines flight, which took place on Friday. The panel was ripped from the jet some 10 minutes into Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 — headed from Portland, Ore., to Ontario, Calif. — after the plane was around 16,000 feet in the air. The plane then made an emergency landing.

The government over the weekend grounded 171 Boeing 737 Max 9 jets in response. A photo released by the National Transportation Safety Board showed the hole left by the detached panel from inside the aircraft, seats inches away from the opening.

Calhoun, in his remarks, said he hoped employees would look at the damage.

“I didn’t know what had happened to whoever was supposed to be in the seat next to that hole in the airplane,” he said. “I got kids. I got grandkids, and so do you. This stuff matters. Everything matters. Every detail matters.”

The focus of the probe into the incident has centered on possible missing bolts used to secure the panel. More troubling for Boeing is the fact that United Airlines
UAL,
+1.46%
has also reported finding loose bolts in other panels after inspecting its Max 9 jets. The focus is also on subcontractor and Boeing spinoff Spirit AeroSystems
SPR,
+3.84%,
which installs the plugs in Max 9 fuselages.

Shares of Boeing were up 2.2% on Wednesday.

Read: Boeing’s stock should be in the penalty box for now, investment manager says

Analyst takes on the financial impact on Boeing have been mixed. Some have said it could be limited if investigators and inspectors find no other issues with the jets. Some have also pointed to Boeing’s size and standing as one of two major commercial jet makers — Airbus
EADSY,
+0.84%
being the other — as availability of new planes remains limited.

But Vertical Research Partners analyst Robert Stallard, in a research note on Tuesday, said a more aggressive regulatory response could be on the way.

“The fall-out from the Alaska Airlines Max 9 incident is still working itself through the aviation system, but yesterday’s news that United Airlines found loose fasteners on the door plug on at least five of its aircraft raises the prospect that Alaska was not an isolated incident,” Stallard said.

“If this is indeed a fleet issue, then this raises the possibility of a more stringent FAA response to this situation,” he continued.

He said that as the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board look into the incident, regulators would be the ones to watch.

“We think that there will be pressure on the FAA to ‘do something,’ as the Alaska incident has clearly resonated with the U.S. flying public, and could easily have been a lot worse.”

Barbara Kollmeyer contributed to this article