The manufacturer still faces a difficult recovery

Boeing You embark on another rebuilding year.

A year ago, the company was thrust back into the spotlight over safety and quality concerns when a fuselage panel covering an unused emergency exit door exploded in mid-air from a nearly new Boeing 737 Max 9 operated by Alaska Airlines. The accident terrified those on board, although no one was seriously injured, and the plane made a safe emergency landing in Portland, Oregon.

Key bolts were not installed before the plane left Boeing's Renton, Wash., 737 factory, a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board said, once again tarnishing the image of the prominent U.S. exporter.

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

Boeing leaders have spent the past 12 months making major changes that include replacing employees in their executive ranks, including a new CEO, to more aggressive training for hundreds of factory workers, many of whom are new.

The company on Friday outlined the progress it has made over the past year, including the start of random quality audits at factories. Boeing said it has “significantly” reduced defects in the fuselage of its 737 aircraft Air spirit systemswhich is buying them back, and cutting back on the so-called mobile business, where aircraft construction tasks are done out of sequence, in an attempt to reduce defects. The manufacturer also said it addressed much of the feedback provided by employees during sessions with management throughout the year.

Since the accident, the FAA has increased its oversight of Boeing, limiting production of its best-selling 737 MAX planes, though production remains below those levels. FAA Chief Mike Whitaker, who has said he will step down on January 20, warned the company on Friday that “enhanced oversight is here to stay.”

Boeing's transformation is “not a one-year project,” he said.

“What is needed is a fundamental cultural shift at Boeing that focuses on safety and quality above profits,” Whitaker said in a statement. “This will require sustained effort and commitment from Boeing and unwavering scrutiny on our part.”

Boeing has not reported an annual profit since 2018.

That year was the first of two fatal crashes involving 737 MAX planes that killed 346 people — Boeing's worst crisis in recent memory. The flight control system was involved in both incidents, and the aircraft was grounded worldwide for approximately two years.

Other quality flaws have emerged over the years, delaying deliveries of the 737 MAX, the 787 Dreamliner, and a pair of 747s that will serve as Air Force One, among others.

Since 2019, Boeing has lost more than $30 billion, and its new CEO has been tasked with ensuring Boeing can ramp up production without defects that have slowed deliveries in the past.

In August, the company named Kelly Ortberg, a former Rockwell Collins CEO with three decades of aviation experience, as Boeing's new CEO, replacing Dave Calhoun.

Weeks after Ortberg took over, Boeing machinists went on strike for nearly two months, a work stoppage that ended after they agreed to a new four-year labor deal with 38% raises. Some workers had long sought to return pensions to Boeing, but that was not part of the new labor deal.

However, the strike disrupted production of most Boeing aircraft, although factories have resumed production in recent weeks. It sets Boeing up for another year of focus on stabilizing production to get planes to airlines before ramping up further, while Airbus continues to outpace Boeing's deliveries.

Boeing raised billions this fall to stave off the crisis. Ortberg also said the company will cut 10% of its workforce of about 170,000 people. Notices started going out late last year. Ortberg said in October that the company should focus on its core business and that it would review its investment portfolio.

“I think we're better off … doing less and doing it better than doing more and doing it poorly,” he said on his first earnings call in October.

He spent the first weeks of his term visiting factories and moved to the Seattle area, where most of Boeing's production is based, drawing praise from airline executives who had become angry about the company's rollover plane deliveries during the post-pandemic travel boom.

Bob Jordan, CEO of Boeing 737 Airlines SouthwestHe warned in an interview last month that it was “really early” for Boeing to recover, but said he believed Ortberg understood the depth of the problems at the company.

“He's not looking at this as a band-aid. He's looking at this as a sweeping change for Boeing,” he said.