Earlier this year, passengers on board an Alaska Airlines flight from Oregon to California had the fright of their lives when a "door plug" was ripped out of the Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft, forcing pilots to return to the airport.has since revealed, workers had already flagged damaged rivets on the jet's fuselage last year, triggering chaos and delays.
And now, Boeing has announced that it's buying the supplier, bringing production back in-house after almost 20 years of outsourcing it, theat Boeing; in 2005, Boeing sold its factory in Wichita, Kansas, and spun off the local division to an investment firm, which led to its founding. "By once again combining our companies, we can fully align our commercial production systems, including our Safety and Quality Management Systems, and our workforce to the same priorities, incentives and outcomes — centered on safety and quality," Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun wrote in a, is "expected to close mid-2025" and "Boeing and Spirit will remain independent companies" as Boeing works to "secure the necessary regulatory approvals," according to Calhoun.
Case in point is that pesky door plug, which triggered a "violent explosive decompression event" after being ripped out of a fuselage in January. It's been linked to Boeingif it agrees to plead guilty to a fraud case connected to the two fatal 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 that led to the deaths of 346 people.