Boeing’s CEO has acknowledged errors by the company after a panel blew out mid-air during an Alaska Airlines flight, saying it "can never happen again."
More than 170 Boeing 737 Max 9s remain grounded in the US after the incident last week, which occurred mid-flight and left passengers fearing for their lives.
Speaking at a town hall meeting at Boeing’s factory in Renton, Washington, top officials at the company said it acknowledged the “real seriousness of the accident” as it launched reviews into its quality controls.
CEO Dave Calhoun said he had been “shaken to the bone", with further pressure being heaped on Boeing after two airlines said on Tuesday they discovered “loose” bolts in some of their 737 Max 9s after inspections.
“We're going to approach this, number one, acknowledging our mistake," Mr Calhoun told employees, according to an excerpt released by Boeing.
“We're going to approach it with 100% and complete transparency every step of the way."
Alaska Airlines and United Airlines, the two US carriers that use the temporarily grounded planes, have found loose parts on similar aircraft, raising fears such an incident could have happened again.
Mr Calhoun also told Boeing employees the company would “ensure every next airplane that moves into the sky is in fact safe."
He praised the Alaska Airlines crew that swiftly landed the plane, with only minor injuries to the 171 passengers and six crew.
Boeing declined to comment on Mr Calhoun's remarks beyond the official excerpt.
Some industry leaders have privately criticised Boeing for not grounding planes faster on Saturday.
Sources quoted by the AP news agency said Boeing had been drawing up plans to order inspections when the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) intervened with an emergency order to ground the planes.
Boeing previously suffered from numerous production issues with a wider grounding of the 737 Max family in March 2019 after two deadly crashes killed 346 people.
Both crashes were caused by faulty software on the planes, which forced them into dives, despite the best efforts of the pilots.
