In October, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun was asked how fast Boeing could raise output of its best-selling 737 MAX after a spate of quality snags. He was upbeat: Boeing would get back to 38 jets a month and was "anxious to build from there as fast as we can."
How a modern jetliner left Boeing's nearby Renton factory with a loose door panel, setting the clock ticking on a terrifying mid-air blowout on Jan. 5, has triggered soul-searching about quality controls and plunged Boeing into its second safety crisis in five years.
Regulators have suspended Boeing's plans to ramp up 737 output and Calhoun now says it's time to "go slow to go fast", casting doubt on the shape of its recovery from back-to-back crises - first over two MAX crashes that killed 346 people and then the pandemic - which left it $38 billion in debt.