The authorization will continue for another three years.
Alaska Boeing 737 MAX aircraft (Photo: Shutterstock | Wenjie Zheng)
The FAA has extended an agreement that allows Boeing to carry out certain agency functions, like safety inspections, on its behalf.
The arrangement, known as an Organization Designation Authorization, will officially renew on June 1 and continue for three years. It permits an independent ODA division within Boeing to inspect the company’s aircraft and components and issue certificates, responsibilities that would otherwise fall to federal regulators.
“Before making the decision, the FAA closely monitored specific criteria and saw improvements in most areas,” the agency said in a statement. “Criteria included implementing policies prohibiting interference with ODA unit members; assessing the ODA unit’s ability to effectively self-audit and ensure follow-through of post-audit activities; and monitoring the ODA unit’s ability to complete projects independently. The FAA will continue to closely monitor Boeing’s performance throughout its renewal period.”
The reauthorization comes as Boeing continues to work under heightened FAA oversight following the failure of a door plug on a 737 MAX 9 operated by Alaska Airlines last year. The blowout caused a decompression in the cabin.
The FAA is investigating an incident in which an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 lost a door plug in flight. (Photo: NTSB)
“We remain committed to working under the agency’s detailed and rigorous oversight,” a Boeing spokesperson said in a statement to The Hill. “We have taken purposeful steps to strengthen our ODA program over the past three years in alignment with FAA requirements, and we will continue those improvements.”
The FAA faced scrutiny for allowing Boeing to carry out its own inspections in the wake of two 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019, which killed a combined 346 people. The company recently agreed to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in fines and compensation to victims’ families to avoid criminal prosecution by the U.S. Department of Justice for alleged fraud in connection with the accidents.
In 2021, the FAA fined Boeing $1.2 million for improperly structuring its ODA unit and exerting “undue pressure” on ODA team members to expedite aircraft airworthiness approvals. The following year, the agency agreed to extend Boeing’s ODA, but by three years, not the five the manufacturer had originally asked for.
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