Boeing reaches deadline for reporting how it will fix aircraft safety and quality problems

By DAVID KOENIG
AP Airlines Writer

Boeing is due to tell federal regulators how it plans to fix the safety and quality problems that have plagued its aircraft-manufacturing work in recent years. The Federal Aviation Administration gave the company 90 days to produce a turnaround plan after one of its jetliners suffered a blowout of a fuselage panel during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. The deadline for submitting the plan is Thursday. Boeing also is the subject of multiple civil and criminal investigations from the panel blowout. Whistleblowers accuse the company of taking shortcuts that endanger passengers, a claim Boeing disputes. A panel convened by the FAA found shortcomings in Boeing’s safety culture.