Watch Live: Boeing's Outgoing CEO Massacred In Senate Testimony
Watch the Boeing Hearing Live:
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Update (1536ET):
CEO Dave Calhoun says Boeing is 'changing course' on outsourcing. Essentially, this means the planemaker will bring more of the production in-house.
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Update (1528ET):
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) tells CEO Dave Calhoun, "This hearing is a moment of reckoning ... and about a company, a once iconic company, that somehow lost its way."
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Update (1501ET):
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. tells CEO Dave Calhoun:
"You're focused on exactly what you were hired to do: cutting corners, eliminating safety procedures, sticking it to your employees, and cutting back jobs - all because you're trying to squeeze every piece of profit out of this company."
Hawley continued, "You're strip-mining it - you strip-mining Boeing. It was one of the greatest American companies ever - it has employed thousands of people in my state. And you're strip-mining it for profit and shareholder value - and you're being rewarded for it. You got a huge raise."
"It's working great for you, but for the American people - they're endangered. For your workers - they're in peril. For your whistleblowers - they fear for their lives. And you're getting compensated like never before."
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Update (1453ET):
CEO Dave Calhoun attempts to explain how his $32 million annual salary is justifiable, considering all the ongoing issues and open investigations with federal agencies.
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Update (1446ET):
CEO Dave Calhoun says Boeing mishaps outside the Alaska incident are downstream issues. The Alaska incident was a manufacturing issue.
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Update (1443ET):
CEO Dave Calhoun addresses the supply chain snarls and says the post-Covid environment is very stressed, adding turnover with employees is high.
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Update (1436ET):
At the start of the hearing, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun apologized to the families of the victims of the twin Max 737 crashes.
"I would like to apologize on behalf of all of our Boeing associates spread throughout the world — past and present — for their losses," Calhoun said.
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Update (1426ET):
Outgoing Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun is testifying this afternoon before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Investigations regarding ongoing investigations into Boeing's quality oversight and production failures of commercial jets.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who chairs the committee, began by stating that there is overwhelming evidence for the Justice Department to take action against Boeing.
Blumenthal said there are more than a dozen whistleblowers...
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On Tuesday afternoon, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun will testify before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, chaired by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), about the ongoing investigations into Boeing's quality oversight and production failures of commercial jets.
"Our culture is far from perfect, but we are taking action and making progress," Calhoun said in his prepared remarks released by Boeing and reported by the Washington Post.
Calhoun said, "We understand the gravity, and we are committed to moving forward with transparency and accountability, while elevating employee engagement."
The top executive's "far from perfect" comment understates the severity of the continued Boeing investigations by the Justice Department, Federal Aviation Administration, and other federal agencies since the early January door plug incident on an Alaska Air Boeing 737 Max flight. The exec is also expected to apologize to the family members of the victims who died in the two 737 Max crashes.
"We are deeply sorry for your losses," he's expected to say in opening comments, adding, "Nothing is more important than the safety of the people who step on board our airplanes. Every day we seek to honor the memory of those lost."
And he plans to apologize to the passengers and crew of the Alaska Air flight:
"We deeply regret the impact that the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 accident had on Alaska Airlines' team and its passengers, and we are grateful to the pilots and crew for safely landing the plane. We are thankful that there were no fatalities."
In recent months, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered Boeing to improve safety and quality before it could resume normal production, sparking plane delivery delays for major airlines, including Southwest, which had to downgrade its financial outlook for the year due to the delays.
Today's hearing will focus on Boeing's broken safety culture, two months after whistleblower Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour's testimony about defective planes to the same subcommittee.
"I have serious concerns about the safety of the 787 and 777 aircraft, and I'm willing to take on professional risk to talk about them," Salehpour said in his opening statement on April 17, adding, "I was ignored. I was told not to create delays. I was told, frankly, to shut up."
Ahead of the hearing, Blumenthal wrote in a statement:
"I look forward to Mr. Calhoun's testimony, which is a necessary step in meaningfully addressing Boeing's failures, regaining public trust, and restoring the company's central role in the American economy and national defense."
In markets, Boeing shares are marginally lower in premarket trading in New York. Year-to-date, shares are down nearly 32% on the endless jet problems.
The executives at Boeing have destroyed one of the world's greatest aviation brands as competitor Airbus flies ahead.