Boeing's CEO is out. Here's a timeline of the company's brutal 2024 (so far)

On Jan. 5, Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 lost a door plug — a part designed to replace an unneeded emergency exit door — during a flight from Portland International Airport to Ontario, California. The incident took place just 10 minutes after takeoff. The plane landed safely, but not before all the air rushing into the night sky took with it a teddy bear, two cellphones, a seat headrest, and a 15-year-old passenger’s t-shirt.

Federal government regulators quickly sprung into action, even managing to find the missing door plug a couple days later in the backyard of a Portland schoolteacher. What investigators then found while poking and prodding the company was troubling.

An initial report from the National Transportation Safety Board released Feb. 6 said that somewhere between a Boeing facility and the Alaska Airlines flight, crucial bolts went missing on the plane in question. A Feb. 26 report from the Federal Aviation Administration suggested that the company “did not provide objective evidence of a foundational commitment to safety that matched Boeing’s descriptions of that objective.”

And the Justice Department reportedly began a criminal inquiry in early March. On Friday, the Federal Bureau of Investigations informed the Alaska Airlines passengers that they may have been victims of a crime.

Boeing had already spent a few years been getting criticized by airline CEOs for production delays that were keeping their companies behind schedule on fleet rejuvenation and expansion. But with more scrutiny on its operations — the FAA said on Feb. 6 that it would put more “boots on the ground” at Boeing facilities — the company now doesn’t know quickly it will be able to build the planes its customers are waiting for for. At a New York conference in March, several airline CEOs used diplomatic language express their discontent with Boeing.

In mid-January, 22 passengers who were aboard the the Alaska Airlines flight filed a class-action lawsuit. On March 4, three more of them put a price tag on the difficulty of their ordeal, filing a separate suit pursuing punitive damages that could cost Boeing and Alaska Airlines $1 billion.

“The main difference in the cases is that I am seeking a large amount of punitive damages, and those are not available in Washington,” said Jonathan Johnson, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs in the second lawsuit.

Boeing’s main competitor in the commercial airliner space is France’s Airbus, which has made no secret of its desire to take advantage of its American rival’s troubles. In mid-March,United Airlines reportedly moved to lease a few dozen 737 Max replacements from Airbus.

“We are in the market,” for Airbus’ 737 Max rival, United CEO Scott Kirby said. “And if we get a deal that the economics work, then we’ll do something.”

In mid-March, Boeing opened negotiations with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 751, the union representing 32,000 of its workers in Washington state. The last full contract negotiation was in 2008, and a number of extensions have kept it in place since. Workers went on strike for eight weeks before an agreement was reached.

Some analysts have tied Boeing’s recent issues to its employees being underpaid and overworked. The union is seeking a 40% raise for workers over the next three years, alongside overtime rule other benefit changes. The Financial Times reports that the union is also seeking a seat on Boeing’s board.

“We have to save this company from itself,” district president Jon Holden told the newspaper.

On March 25, Boeing announced that CEO Dave Calhoun would step down by the end of the year. Also departing are Stan Deal, who leads the company’s commercial airplanes division, and Larry Kellner, the chairman of Boeing’s board of directors.

“As you all know, the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 accident was a watershed moment for Boeing,” Calhoun wrote in a letter to staff. “We must continue to respond to this accident with humility and complete transparency. We also must inculcate a total commitment to safety and quality at every level of our company.”