Boeing fires head of its 737 MAX program

Boeing announced on Wednesday that it is removing the head of its 737 MAX passenger aircraft program following an incident that left a fuselage hole in an Alaska Airlines plane last month during midflight.

Ed Clark, an 18-year Boeing veteran, is "leaving the program "immediately, Boeing Commercial Airplanes chief Stan Deal said in a memo to employees.

Clark was the head of the company's production facility in Renton, Washington, which is the final assembly site of the 737 MAX airliner and builds its MAX 9 aircraft.

Deal said Katie Ringgold, previously in charge of 737 deliveries, would take over the MAX program, and that another executive, Elizabeth Lund, would take on a new role overseeing quality across all of Boeing's commercial airplanes.

Clark is an engineer. His successor Ringgold, who has business degrees, began her aviation career performing avionics systems maintenance and troubleshooting on C-130 cargo aircraft in the US Air Force.

Deal wrote the changes are intended to drive Boeing Commercial Airplanes' "enhanced focus on ensuring that every airplane we deliver meets or exceeds all quality and safety requirements".

Multiple incidents

The announcement came two weeks after a report from the US National Transportation Safety Board found that bolts that held a panel known as a door plug in place were missing when the nearly brand-new 737 MAX 9 used for Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 departed the Portland International Airport in Oregon for Ontario, California, on Jan 5.

The incident aboard the Alaska Airlines MAX 9 is the latest crisis for Boeing, which has been plagued by manufacturing problems after fatal crashes of its 737 MAX 8 in 2018 and 2019 that killed all 346 people on board the two flights.

The problems on Boeing planes have delayed deliveries to customers. A month after the Alaska Airlines flight, Boeing said improperly drilled holes on some MAX planes would delay handovers of the aircraft to airlines.

Boeing's rival Airbus has ramped up production and deliveries of new planes.