The manufacturer still faces a difficult recovery

Boeing begins another year of reconstruction.

A year ago, the company was again in the spotlight over safety and quality concerns when a fuselage panel covering an unused emergency exit door flew through the air from an almost new Boeing 737 Max 9 operated by Alaska Airlines. The accident terrified the passengers on board, although no one was seriously injured and the plane landed safely in Portland, Oregon.

The key screws were there not installed before the plane left Boeing's 737 plant in Renton, Washington, a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board found, again tarnishing picture the largest exporter from the USA.

Over the past 12 months, Boeing's stock price has fallen more than 30%, while the S&P 500 Index has risen almost 27%.

Boeing leaders have spent the last 12 months implementing major changes of this scope spare parts in its executive ranks, including a new CEOto more robust training for hundreds of factory workers, many of whom are new.

On Friday, the company reported its progress over the past year, including the start of random quality audits at factories. Boeing said it has “significantly” reduced the number of defects in the company's 737 fuselages Spiritual AeroSystemsWhich it's redemptionand limit so-called travel work, in which aircraft-building tasks are performed out of sequence, to reduce defects. The manufacturer also said it had addressed most of the employee feedback provided during year-long sessions with management.

Since the accident, the Federal Aviation Administration has increased its oversight of Boeing, limiting production of its best-selling 737 Max planes, though production remains below that level. FAA chief Mike Whitaker, who said he would do it I will step down on January 20warned the company on Friday that “enhanced oversight will remain.”

He said Boeing's turnaround “is not a one-year project.”

“A fundamental cultural change is needed at Boeing, one focused on safety and quality over profits. This will require continued effort and commitment from Boeing, as well as unwavering control from us,” Whitaker said in a statement.

This year was the first of two deadly Boeing 737 Max crashes that killed 346 people – Boeing's worst crisis in recent years. AND flight control system was involved in both crashes, and the plane was grounded worldwide for almost two years.

Over the years, other quality defects appeared, delaying aircraft deliveries, including: 737 Max, 787 Dreamliner and pairs of 747s that will serve as Air Force One.

Boeing has lost more than $30 billion since 2019, and its new CEO is tasked with ensuring Boeing increases production without the glitches that have slowed deliveries in the past.

In August, the company imported Kelly Ortbergformer CEO of Rockwell Collins with three decades of experience in the aerospace industry as Boeing's new CEO, replacing Dave Calhoun.

Weeks into Ortberg's term, Boeing mechanics started a strike for almost two months, the work stoppage ended after a new four-year employment contract with a 38% pay raise was approved. Some longtime employees courted Boeing restore pensionsbut this was not part of the new labor agreement.

However, the strike halted production of most Boeing jets, although factories have resumed production in recent weeks. This prepares Boeing for another year of focus stabilization production is aimed at delivering jets to airlines before ramping up further, while Airbus continues to lead Boeing's delivery volumes.

Boeing raised billions this fall to stave off the crisis. Ortberg also stated that the company would cut 10% of a workforce of approximately 170,000 people. The announcements started appearing late last year. Ortberg said in October that the company needed to focus on its core business and would review its portfolio.

“I think it's better… to do less and do it better than to do more and not do it well,” he said on his first earnings call in October.

He spent the first weeks of his tenure visiting factories and moved to the Seattle area, where most of Boeing's production is concentrated, and won praise from airline executives who had developed annoyed with the company's delivery of wheeled planes during the post-pandemic travel boom.

Bob Jordan, CEO of the all-Boeing 737 airline Southwestcautioned in an interview last month that it was “really early” for Boeing's recovery, but said he believed Ortberg understood the depth of the company's problems.

“He doesn't look at it as a band-aid. “I see this as a wholesale change at Boeing,” he said.