Boeing CEO apologizes to plane crash victims’ families amid shouts he ‘should be in jail’
Boeing’s CEO came face-to-face with the families of hundreds of plane crash victims – and his apologies were met with calls that he resign and go to jail.
Outgoing CEO David Calhoun spoke to families before his opening remarks at a Senate hearing amid a whistleblower’s reports that Boeing hid its production problems from US regulators knowingly.
Calhoun got up from his chair before the Senate Homeland Security Committee’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, turned around and faced a crowd holding images of Boeing 737 MAX victims.
‘I want to personally apologize, on behalf of everyone at Boeing. We are deeply sorry for your losses,’ said Calhoun on Tuesday afternoon.
‘Nothing is more important than the safety of the people who step on board our airplanes. Every day we seek to honor the memory of those lost through a steadfast commitment to safety and quality.’
Calhoun apologized again ‘for the grief that we have caused’.
‘And I want you to know we are totally committed in their memory to work and focus on safety for as long as we are employed by Boeing,’ he concluded.
One attendee yelled at him, ‘You should be in jail.’
‘We want to know how they died,’ someone else shouted.
Another said, ‘How could you, Boeing, and the CEO, let that happen?’
Calhoun was hit with bipartisan criticism from lawmakers on Capitol Hill scrutinizing Boeing’s safety measures, quality standards and transparency.
The commercial jetliner manufacturer is under numerous investigations after a series of missteps this year including an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX door plug blowout after takeoff in January.
After Boeing 737 MAX crashes 2018 in Indonesia and 2019 in Ethiopia that killed 346 people collectively, Calhoun became CEO and promised to improve the company’s work. Subcommittee chair Richard Blumenthal accused Calhoun of failing to do that.
‘For a while, some started to believe that Boeing might have changed,’ he said.
‘But then, this past January, the façade quite literally blew off the hollow shell that had been Boeing’s promises to the world. And once that chasm was exposed, we learned that there was virtually no bottom to the void that lay below.’
Senator Josh Hawley asked Calhoun point-blank: ‘Why haven’t you resigned?’
‘I’m sticking this through,’ replied Calhoun. ‘I’m proud of every action we have taken.’
Hawley brought up Calhoun’s $32.8million salary and asked, ‘What is it you get paid to do exactly?’
Calhoun in his first time before lawmakers acknowledged that Boeing retaliated against employees who brought up safety concerns.
‘I know it happens,’ Calhoun admitted.
Blumenthal called the hearing a ‘moment of reckoning’ for Boeing and urged the Department of Justice to act.
‘As a former federal prosecutor and state attorney general I think that the evidence is near-overwhelming to justify that prosecution,’ Blumenthal said.
The Justice Department in May found that Boeing failed to ‘design, implement, and enforce a compliance and ethics program’. Prosecutors have until July 7 to share any legal plans with a federal judge.
Calhoun in March announced that he planned to step down from his role by the end of 2024.
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