Boeing’s Bumpy Ride Isn’t Over

Dave Calhoun, Boeing’s C.E.O., will likely face tough questions from lawmakers on Capitol Hill today.Credit…Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA, via Shutterstock

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Boeing’s boss, Dave Calhoun, will testify before a Senate panel on Tuesday, as yet another whistle-blower has come forward, alleging the planemaker was negligent in tracking hundreds of faulty parts.

Calhoun will step down by December, but that hasn’t stopped lawmakers, investors and customers from hammering the company.

Now, Boeing is reportedly struggling to find a successor, highlighting the scale of the challenge to fix an iconic American company.

Calhoun will say that the culture is still “far from perfect.” He will be grilled on a range of issues hanging over the company, from multiple whistle-blower accusations to the events leading up to the midair blowout of a door plug on an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 jet in January.

Calhoun will again acknowledge that more work is needed on quality and safety, according to Reuters.

That’s unlikely to satisfy lawmakers. The company’s “broken safety culture” should have been addressed a long time ago, Richard Blumenthal, the Democratic chair of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Senate’s Homeland Security Committee, told Reuters. He pointed out that Boeing crashes in 2018 and 2019 killed almost 350 people.

Boeing’s search for a new C.E.O. shows the depth of its problems. Calhoun has kept a low profile since announcing in March that he would leave. But The Wall Street Journal reports that several candidates have turned down Boeing’s overtures. They include industry veterans: Larry Culp, head of GE Aerospace, and David Gitlin, a Boeing director and C.E.O. of Carrier Global.