(New York) Before a US Senate commission of inquiry into the quality of his group’s production, Boeing boss Dave Calhoun acknowledged on Tuesday the “seriousness” of the situation by affirming that progress had to be made. have already been achieved.

Sitting behind him in the audience were relatives of victims of the Boeing plane crashes in 2018 and 2019, holding up photos of their fallen and signs.

At the start of his opening statement, Mr. Calhoun stood to face them and apologized “on behalf of all Boeing employees around the world, past and present, for [their] losses.”

“I apologize for the grief we have caused, and I want you to know that we are fully mobilized, in their memory, to work and focus on security for as long” as necessary, he continued .

“Again, I’m sorry,” added the leader, before resuming his place in front of the senators.

“Our culture is far from perfect, but we are taking steps and we are making progress,” Mr. Calhoun said, with Howard McKenzie, Boeing’s chief engineer, at his side.

This is the first time that Mr. Calhoun has been questioned publicly since the event of January 5, when a 737 MAX 9 plane, delivered in October to Alaska Airlines, lost a cap holder in flight (cap sealing a redundant emergency exit).

According to the preliminary report from the American Transportation Safety Agency (NTSB), several fastening bolts had not been put back in place after an intervention on the assembly line.

For many months, the American aircraft manufacturer has been experiencing production and quality problems with its commercial aircraft (737 MAX, 787 Dreamliner and 777).

“It is a culture that continues to prioritize profits, push the limits and ignore its employees,” denounced Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, chairman of the commission of inquiry, at the opening of the session, believing that the promises made by Boeing are just “empty shells”.

Speaking directly to Mr. Calhoun, he blamed him for “eroding safety culture” for “taking care of [his] shareholders.”

Mr. Calhoun was appointed CEO of Boeing in early 2020, where he had been a director since 2009, to turn around the situation after the two crashes. But the group’s failures precipitated its retirement by the end of 2024.

Several audits and investigations have detected numerous “non-compliance” issues and deficiencies, particularly in quality control.

This commission of inquiry has already heard, in mid-April, four whistleblowers. On Tuesday morning, she published new elements reported by other whistleblowers.

Mr. Calhoun is likely to be asked about the “comprehensive action plan” required by the aviation regulator (FAA) to remedy these problems. This plan was submitted at the end of May.

The stakes are high: the aircraft manufacturer could be caught up in the consequences of the crash of the two 737 MAX 8s, which left 346 dead.

According to the US Department of Justice, Boeing “failed to comply with its obligations” under a so-called deferred prosecution agreement (DPA), linked to these accidents, concluded on January 7, 2021 with a three-year surveillance watch. years.

Accused of fraud in the 737 MAX certification process, Boeing agreed to pay $2.5 billion and committed, among other things, to strengthening its compliance program.

Threatened with criminal charges in a Texas federal court, the group formally challenged the department’s findings last week. The latter must decide whether or not to continue before July 7.

Mr. Blumenthal, a former prosecutor, said Tuesday that there were “overwhelming elements” to launch prosecutions.

Before the hearing, relatives of victims spoke to Congress.

“If there is no risk of imprisonment for these leaders who are playing with our lives, then nothing will change,” said Adnaan Sumo, who lost his sister in the March 10, 2019 crash in Ethiopia.

At his side, Nadia Milleron, who lost her daughter Samya Rose Stumo, aged 27. “There are so many production defects that a third crushing could happen. And it almost happened,” she lamented.