Boeing 737 MAX 9 Incident: FAA Chief Emphasizes Miss On Manufacturing Part And Not On Design

Wednesday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it completed inspections on the initial group of 40 Boeing Co BA 737 MAX 9 jets, marking a crucial step towards potentially ungrounding the model after a mid-air cabin panel blowout earlier this month.

The FAA had previously stated that 40 out of 171 grounded planes needed re-inspection following an incident on an eight-week-old Alaska Air Group Inc ALK jet.

Alaska Airlines and United Airlines Holdings Inc UAL, the two U.S. carriers operating the aircraft, have completed the required inspections but have had to cancel thousands of flights this month. 

Both airlines announced the cancellation of all MAX 9 flights through Friday. 

Boeing’s CEO and supplier Spirit Aerosystems Holdings Inc SPR, responsible for the panel, held a meeting with employees in Kansas. 

Meanwhile, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and FAA briefed senators on the Commerce Committee about the investigation into the cabin panel blowout.

Jennifer Homendy, the chair of NTSB, revealed that Spirit AeroSystems manufactured the door plug in Malaysia. 

Subsequently, the component went to the Boeing supplier’s facility in Wichita, Kansas, before being transported by train to Boeing’s 737 factory in Renton, Washington, the Wall Street Journal reported.

FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker highlighted longstanding production issues at Boeing, Reuters noted, revealing plans for an audit starting with the MAX 9. 

NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy noted the uncertainty surrounding the incident and the extensive investigation into potential issues related to the door plug.

Homendy stated that the safety board’s inquiry will thoroughly examine the process of producing, transporting, installing, and commissioning the door plug. 

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell plans to hold a hearing to ensure strong oversight of Boeing. 

Wall Street analysts view Boeing on the whole as a Buy, given the history of coverage over the past three months. Ken Herbert from RBC Capital in Boeing is the most optimistic, expecting a 37.5% rise in the stock in the coming year.

But looking at how the market as a whole thinks of the stock, you can reference historical price action for views on whether investors feel strongly about the stock one way or another. In the past 3 months, Boeing rose 16.27%, which indicates that opinion improved on the business and how attractive it is to own based on either its stock price, or underlying fundamentals, like revenue, which rose 13.46% over the past year.

A complete overview of how Wall Street views individual stocks is available here, while real time updates on the latest analyst actions will be delivered via Benzinga PRO. Try it for free.

Price Action: BA shares are up 3.26% at $209.68 on the last check Thursday.

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