By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Tuesday U.S. regulators will keep Boeing (NYSE:BA) "under a microscope" as the planemaker works to address quality issues.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said Monday the agency's six-week 737 MAX production audit into Boeing and supplier Spirit AeroSystems (NYSE:SPR) found multiple instances where the companies allegedly failed to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements.
Buttigieg told CNBC that air travel is the safest mode of U.S. travel but "keeping it that way is going to require Boeing to step up and the FAA to keep Boeing under a microscope, including this tough step that was unprecedented of limiting how many aircraft they can produce in a month until they can demonstrate that if they want to make a higher number, they can do it safely."
The FAA also said Monday it found "non-compliance issues in Boeing’s manufacturing process control, parts handling and storage, and product control."
The FAA has not detailed the specific corrective actions Boeing and Spirit must take but sent a summary of its findings to the companies in its completed audit.
Boeing said Monday "by virtue of our quality stand-downs, the FAA audit findings and the recent expert review panel report, we have a clear picture of what needs to be done."
The FAA's audit was prompted by a Jan. 5 mid-air emergency involving a new Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 that lost a door plug at 16,000 feet (4,877 meters). The FAA previously barred Boeing from expanding 737 production and in January said "the quality assurance issues we have seen are unacceptable."
Last week, FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said Boeing must develop a comprehensive plan to address "systemic quality-control issues" within 90 days following an all-day Feb. 27 meeting with CEO Dave Calhoun.
Buttigieg said Whitaker "communicated some real concerns about what seems to be their inability to comply with the kind of quality control practices that FAA expects of them."
Calhoun said in a statement last week that Boeing's leadership team was "totally committed" to addressing FAA concerns and developing the plan.
Boeing has scrambled to explain and strengthen safety procedures since the mid-air incident that led to the FAA grounding the MAX 9 for several weeks in January.
Whitaker said Boeing's plan must incorporate results of the FAA production-line audit and findings from an expert review panel report released last week.