• Boeing said it’s adding more 737 quality inspections after the Alaska Airlines fiasco.
• The company is “taking a hard look” at “quality practices” across its production system. 
• Last week, a Boeing 737 Max 9 lost a door plug midflight, creating a gaping hole in the plane.

Boeing is introducing more quality assurance measures in its production process for 737 aircraft following a nightmare Alaska Airlines flight on one of the planes last week.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Stan Deal told employees in a memo that the company later published that the company is “taking a hard look at our quality practices in our factories and across our production system.”

“We have taken important steps in recent years to strengthen our Quality Management System’s (QMS) foundation and its layers of protection,” he wrote. “But, the AS1282 accident and recent customer findings make clear that we are not where we need to be.”

Deal’s memo outlined “additional inspections throughout the build process” as well as “team sessions on quality.” He also told employees that a team will now be “inspecting Spirit’s installation of the mid-exit door plug and approving them before the fuselage section can be shipped to Boeing,” referring to Spirit AeroSystems, which manufacturers aircraft parts for Boeing.

Boeing will open its factories for inspection to airlines that use 737 planes, and the company is bringing in a third party to conduct an independent review of its quality management system, Deal added.

On January 5, an Alaska Airlines flight on a Boeing 737 Max 9 was forced to make an emergency landing after a door plug blew off the aircraft midflight, creating a hole in the side of the plane.

The US Federal Aviation Administration has since grounded all Boeing 737 Max 9 planes with that component until it decides they can safely return to operation. The regulatory agency recently notified the aircraft manufacturer that it’s investigating “to determine if Boeing failed to ensure completed products conformed to its approved design and were in a condition for safe operation in compliance with FAA regulations.”

Alaska Airlines said Saturday that it’s starting a “thorough review of Boeing’s production quality and control systems” and will also “enhance our own quality oversight of Alaska aircraft on the Boeing production line.”