The Federal Aviation Administration it’s giving Boeing 90 days to come upwith a plan to fix quality problems and meet safety standards for building planes after a panel blew off a brand-new Boeing 737 Max jetliner last month.

The agency said the directive followed all-day meetings Tuesday with top Boeing officials at FAAheadquarters in Washington.

The FAA did not indicate what action it might take if Boeing fails to meet the 90-day deadline.

The FAA is currently completing an audit ofassembly lines at the factory near Seattle, where Boeing builds planes like the Alaska Airlines 737 Max that suffered a door-panel blowout on Jan. 5. Investigators say bolts that help keep the panel in place were missing after repair work at the Boeingfactory.

The incident has raised scrutiny of Boeing to its highest level since two crashes of Boeing 737 Max jets in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people.

Whitaker toured the 737 factory two weeks ago. He met with FAA inspectors who are reviewing Boeing’s operations and talked with Boeingengineers and mechanics about safety issues, according to the FAA.

This week, a panel of industry, government andacademic experts issued a report that found shortcomings in the safety culture at Boeing, which the company says it has been working toimprove. Earlier this month, Boeing replaced the executive who had overseen the 737 program since early 2021 and said it was increasing inspections at the 737 plant in Renton, Washington.

Source: Travelweek