Boeing must improve quality before it can boost 737 production, FAA says
WASHINGTON, March 19 (Reuters) - The head of the Federal Aviation Administration said Boeing must improve safety culture and address quality issues before he will allow the planemaker to boost 737 MAX production.
The FAA in late January told Boeing it would not allow the company to expand 737 MAX production in the wake of a mid-air emergency on an Alaska Airlines jet.
FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday the agency has not begun discussions with Boeing yet about hiking 737 production, saying the agency will only permit an increase when Boeing is "running a quality system safely."
He said Boeing is allowed to produce 38 of the 737 planes per month but the actual current production "is lower than that." (Reporting by David Shepardson)
