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FAA Proposes $3.9 Million Penalty Against Boeing for Using Defective Plane Parts

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Published: Tuesday, 10 December 2019 20:56

Agency contends plane maker knowingly certified some 130 Boeing 737 jets despite installing suspect parts.  

The proposed penalty doesn’t apply to any 737 MAX models, the latest version of Boeing’s best-selling workhorse jets that has been grounded for months. PHOTO: GARY HE/REUTERS

Boeing Co. was hit with a proposed $3.9 million penalty by U.S. air-safety officials who said the company installed defective parts inside the wings of around 130 737 NG aircraft and then knowingly vouched they met all federal safety requirements.

As part of Friday’s action by the Federal Aviation Administration, the agency indicated that the parts—designed to guide movable panels called slats on the front of wings—were used despite being identified as potentially substandard by a Boeing subcontractor in the fall of 2018. Over the next eight months, according to the FAA, the Chicago plane maker certified the affected jets as meeting all airworthiness requirements.

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Controlling the Comfort of Your Airplane Seat—From Your Phone

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Published: Tuesday, 26 November 2019 10:09

Partnered up with Airbus, an innovative London design firm is fine-tuning app-controlled seats you can adjust on your smartphone

Four years ago, the London-based industrial designer Benjamin Hubert quietly closed down his namesake practice. “I kept getting approached to come up with yet another chair,” says Hubert, 35. “And I very much wanted to move beyond that.” He soon re-emerged as the founder and creative director of the strategic agency Layer Design.

The pivot paid off. Today, Layer is a firm of around 30 international creatives with expertise across industrial, experiential and digital design. The studio’s clients range from Vitra and Braun to Nike and Google.

Hubert explains that Layer’s work, which is both material focused and tech confident, sits at the intersection of two ends of the design spectrum: “On one end you have highly crafted, lifestyle-driven product and accessories, while on the other you have super-strategic industrial design or branding work. We bring together the softness of the former and the rigor of the latter.”

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Boeing Chairman Backs Embattled CEO Dennis Muilenburg

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Published: Tuesday, 19 November 2019 10:08

Muilenburg won’t receive bonus compensation this year or stock grants until 737 MAX is flying again

Boeing Co. ’s newly installed chairman backed embattled Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg on Tuesday, while acknowledging a series of engineering missteps that led to two deadly crashes of the 737 MAX.

Boeing Chairman Dave Calhoun said Mr. Muilenburg wouldn’t receive bonus pay this year and wouldn’t receive stock grants until the grounded jet fully returns to service, a process that may unfold globally through all of next year. Mr. Calhoun said it was the CEO’s idea to reduce his compensation.

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Airbus to Expand Production in China, Putting Further Pressure on Boeing

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Published: Monday, 11 November 2019 10:04

European plane maker’s move comes as U.S. rival grapples with trade tensions, MAX grounding

Airbus SE EADSY 0.60% plans to boost jetliner production in China, bolstering its position in what is set to be the world’s biggest aviation market and piling further pressure on Boeing Co. as the U.S. company contends with trade tensions and the grounding of its 737 MAX plane.

The France-based plane maker is gaining market share while Boeing grapples with the global grounding of the MAX after two fatal crashes and a dearth of orders for larger aircraft. The U.S. aerospace giant’s efforts in China are also being hindered by the continuing trade dispute between the two countries.

Airbus said Wednesday that it would expand its A330 wide-body completion center in Tianjin to be able to handle its bigger A350 model. The company is also lifting local production of its A320neo, its 737 MAX competitor.

The agreement with the Chinese government was outlined during a visit by French President Emmanuel Macron to his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in Beijing.

The move comes weeks after Boeing was forced to cut back production rates for its 787 Dreamliner, citing U.S. trade tensions with China and a lack of demand from Chinese carriers. Boeing’s last China order was in November 2017.

Airbus has meanwhile been leveraging the fallout by boosting its production in China and winning orders for its own models. Its last order from China was as recent as March.

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