Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun returns to his seat after speaking directly to family members of Ethiopia Flight 302 and Lion Air Flight 610 crash victims during his opening remarks for a hearing of the House Subcommittee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs Senate on Boeing’s broken safety culture on Capitol Hill on June 18, 2024 in Washington, DC (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Boeing CEO David Calhoun apologized Tuesday to the families of people killed in crashes in the manufacturer’s planes, while members of both parties on a U.S. Senate panel criticized the executive branch for its shortcomings of security and transparency.
Calhoun appeared at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Investigations to discuss the recent shortcomings of Boeing jets and the company’s treatment of whistleblowers.
Democrats and Republicans on the panel said Calhoun was more concerned about the company’s profits than its safety.
“Boeing needs to stop thinking about the next earnings call and start thinking about the next generation,” the subcommittee chairman said. Richard Blumenthala Democrat from Connecticut, said in an opening statement.
Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri was one of Calhoun’s sharpest questioners, starting with a question about the CEO’s compensation, which is nearly $33 million a year.
“Mr. Calhoun, you are not focused on safety,” Hawley said. “You are not focused on quality. You are not focused on transparency.
“I actually think you’re focused on exactly what you were hired to do, which is cutting corners,” Hawley continued. “You eliminate safety procedures. You pass it on to your employees. You’re cutting jobs because you’re trying to squeeze every bit of profit you can out of this company. You’re stripping it. You are gutting one of the greatest American companies ever.”
Calhoun should resign, Hawley said.
Calhoun will leave the company at the end of this year.
Apologies to families
Shortly after Blumenthal introduced him, Calhoun stood and turned to the onlookers in the interrogation room. His audience included the families of passengers who died on Lion Air Flight 610 in Indonesia in October 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in March 2019.
Both crashes were caused by software problems with Boeing’s then-new 737 MAX aircraft.
“I want to apologize on behalf of all our Boeing employees around the world, past and present, for your losses,” Calhoun told the families.
“They are heartbreaking. And I apologize for the grief we have caused. And I want you to know that in their memory, we are fully committed to working and focusing on safety for as long as we work at Boeing.”
Calhoun, who took over as Boeing CEO in January 2020 after former CEO Dennis Muilenburg was fired following the two MAX crashes, largely accepted responsibility on behalf of the company for those crashes and a January 2024 episode in which a door blew off a plane . during an Alaska Airlines flight taking off from Portland, Oregon.
Calhoun said the aviation industry depends on accountability, transparency and continuous learning. The company must have a perfect track record and cannot allow even one defective aircraft to leave the factory, he said.
“Perfection is what our job is,” he said. “And it must be absolute.”
Boeing is headquartered in Virginia but has manufacturing facilities across the country, including in Washington state, where it was founded, Missouri and South Carolina.
Culture is still a problem
Calhoun was deferential during the hearing, largely accepting lawmakers’ criticism of his management and promising improvement.
But several members of the panel said his words were not enough.
Four years after taking over, Calhoun had not fixed its failing safety culture, said New Hampshire Democrat Maggie Hassan.
“You talk about safety and culture, but you don’t answer the question of what the root causes of this are,” Hassan said. “How do you ensure that safety and quality are your product and not your words?”
While accepting responsibility for the Alaska Airlines incident, Calhoun responded that safety results were generally positive, with 2023 being the safest year on record for air travel.
Retaliation against whistleblowers
Also in the audience Tuesday were the mother and brother of John Barnett, a former Boeing engineer who was a whistleblower on safety issues at the company and died by suicide earlier this year.
Blumenthal described the “tremendous pressure” Barnett was under for helping investigate Boeing. Barnett received 19 calls from his manager one day and 21 the next, including a threat to “break him,” Blumenthal said.
The committee has heard from “more than a dozen” whistleblowers from Boeing’s workforce, Blumenthal said. They routinely reported that raising concerns internally could lead to harassment, Blumenthal said.
The company also did not cooperate with the subcommittee, Blumenthal said.
In response to requests for information, Boeing responded with pages full of “complete gobbledygook,” which were impossible to read, Blumenthal said.
“I would describe it exactly as you do, and I can’t justify it,” Calhoun said. “And I will definitely follow up.”
Ranking Republican Ron Johnson asked Calhoun whether he had investigated the company’s incentive structure following reports from whistleblowers.
“It’s actually quite shocking when a supervisor calls someone 19 times in one day and says, ‘I’m going to break you,’” the Wisconsin Republican said. “I’m guessing you don’t condone that kind of behavior. Have you looked at your reward system?”
Calhoun responded that the company has made “significant changes to our incentive structure, which really emphasizes all things safety.”
Johnson then asked whether the company’s focus on diversity, equity and inclusion programs represented a trade-off for quality performance.
“I’ve never seen those two things ever come into conflict,” Calhoun said.
Possible DOJ action
The U.S. Department of Justice is conducting its own investigation and may pursue criminal charges, Blumenthal said.
Blumenthal, a former federal prosecutor, said he believed there was enough evidence of wrongdoing to pursue charges.
Blumenthal, Johnson and other members of the panel said lawmakers and the traveling public all wanted the aerospace manufacturing giant to succeed. Boeing produces the most airlines in commercial service in the US and also has significant military contracts.
But the company’s success would “require a course correction,” Blumenthal said.
A federal prosecution of those responsible for safety failures would be a good start, he added.
“I say to you, and to the Department of Justice, that individuals must be held accountable because that is the only way deterrence works,” Blumenthal said. “You don’t agree?”
“Yes sir,” Calhoun replied. “I strongly believe in responsibility.”
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