(Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) audited Boeing's 737 MAX production process after a panel flew off an Alaska Airlines plane in January, but found that 33 out of 89 tests failed. He passed, the New York Times reported Monday.
The report, citing an FAA presentation viewed by the NYT, said that during an extensive investigation, Boeing failed an inspection for a part known as a door plug that was blown off the jet.
Boeing stock fell 1.4% in premarket trading Tuesday.
Spirit AeroSystems, the supplier that makes the MAX's fuselage, passed six of 13 audits and failed the rest, the report added.
Additionally, Spirit's audit, which focused on door plug components, found five issues and failed for issues related to component installation, the report said.
The report said the audit raised concerns about the technicians who performed the work and found the company “failed to determine the knowledge required to operate the process.”
Other audits that Spirit failed included an audit regarding the cargo door and an audit regarding the installation of cockpit windows, the company said.
Boeing is continuing to make immediate changes based on the FAA audit and is developing plans to enhance safety and quality, it told Reuters in an emailed statement.
The FAA and Spirit AeroSystems did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.
Earlier, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said he expected Boeing to cooperate with investigations by the Department of Justice and the National Transportation Safety Board into the January 5 mid-air emergency on a 737 MAX 9 aircraft. .
Meanwhile, the FAA's Michael Whitaker said the FAA and Boeing want to define milestones for manufacturers to achieve in the next 30 days to increase production rates for the MAX.
The agency announced last week that it had found “compliance issues with Boeing's manufacturing process controls, parts handling and storage, and product management.”
(Reporting by Uruvi Dugar and Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala, Varun HK and Rashmi Aich)
