The manufacturer still faces a tough recovery

boeing embarks on another year of rebuilding.

A year ago, the company was again in the spotlight over safety and quality concerns when a fuselage panel covering an unused emergency exit door exploded in the air of a nearly new Boeing 737 Max 9 operated by Alaska Airlines. The crash terrified those on board, although no one was seriously injured and the plane made a safe emergency landing in Portland, Oregon.

The key bolts were not installed before the plane left Boeing’s 737 factory in Renton, Washington, found a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board, again clouding the image of the main American exporter.

Boeing’s stock price is down more than 30% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 is up nearly 27%.

Boeing leaders have spent the past 12 months making major changes that span replacements in its executive ranks, including a new CEOto more robust training for hundreds of factory workers, many of whom are new.

On Friday, the company outlined its progress over the past year, including starting random quality audits at factories. Boeing said it has “significantly” reduced defects in 737 fuselages made by AeroSystems Spiritwhich is repurchasingand reduce so-called itinerant work, where tasks to build aircraft are performed out of sequence, in an effort to reduce failures. The manufacturer also said it addressed much of the employee feedback provided during sessions with management throughout the year.

Since the crash, the Federal Aviation Administration has increased its oversight of Boeing, limiting production of its best-selling 737 Max planes, although production is still below those levels. FAA chief Mike Whitaker, who said that resign on January 20warned the company on Friday that “enhanced oversight is here to stay.”

He said Boeing’s turnaround “is not a one-year project.”

“What is needed is a fundamental cultural change at Boeing that is geared toward safety and quality over profits. That will require sustained effort and commitment on Boeing’s part, and unwavering scrutiny on our part,” Whitaker said. in a statement.

That year was the first of two fatal crashes of its 737 Max that killed 346 people — Boeing’s worst crisis in recent memory. TO flight control system was involved in both accidents and the plane was grounded worldwide for almost two years.

Other quality defects emerged over the years, delaying aircraft deliveries of the 737 Max, the 787 Dreamliner and the pair of 747s that will serve as Air Force One, among others.

Since 2019, Boeing has lost more than $30 billion and its new CEO is tasked with ensuring Boeing can ramp up production without the defects that have slowed deliveries in the past.

In August, the company incorporated Kelly Ortbergformer CEO of Rockwell Collins with three decades of experience in the aerospace sector, as the new CEO of Boeing, replacing Dave Calhoun.

Weeks into Ortberg’s tenure, Boeing machinists went on strike for almost two months, a strike that ended after they approved a new four-year labor agreement with raises of 38%. Some long-time workers sought to own Boeing restore pensionsbut that was not part of the new labor agreement.

The strike, however, paralyzed production of most Boeing planes, although factories have resumed production in recent weeks. He is preparing Boeing to focus for another year on stabilizing production to get planes to airlines before ramping up further, while Airbus continues to outpace Boeing delivery volumes.

Boeing raised billions this fall to stave off the crisis. Ortberg also said that the company would cut 10% of its workforce of around 170,000 people. The ads began running late last year. Ortberg said in October that the company should focus on its core businesses and would review its portfolio.

“I think we’re better off…doing less and doing it better than doing more and not doing it well,” he said in his first earnings call in October.

He spent the first weeks of his tenure visiting factories and moved to the Seattle area, where most of Boeing’s production is focused, and earned praise from airline executives who had grown exasperated with the delivery of the company’s rolling planes during a post-pandemic travel boom.

Bob Jordan, CEO of Boeing 737 airline SouthwestHe warned in an interview last month that it is “very early” in Boeing’s recovery, but said he believes Ortberg understands the depth of the problems at the company.

“He’s not seeing this as a Band-Aid. He’s seeing it as a complete shift toward Boeing,” he said.