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Boeing<\/a>\u00a0is due to tell federal regulators Thursday how it plans to fix the safety and quality problems<\/a> that have plagued its aircraft-manufacturing work in recent years.<\/p>\n The Federal Aviation Administration required the company to produce a turnaround plan after one of its jetliners\u00a0suffered a blowout<\/a>\u00a0of a fuselage panel during an Alaska Airlines flight in January.<\/p>\n Nobody was hurt during the midair incident. Accident investigators determined that bolts that helped secure the panel to the frame of the\u00a0Boeing 737 Max 9<\/a>\u00a0were missing before the piece blew off. The mishap has further battered Boeing\u2019s reputation and led to multiple civil and\u00a0criminal investigations<\/a>.<\/p>\n Whistleblowers have accused the company of taking shortcuts that endanger passengers, a claim that\u00a0Boeing disputes<\/a>. A panel convened by the FAA found shortcomings in the aircraft maker\u2019s\u00a0safety culture<\/a>.<\/p>\n In late February, FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker\u00a0gave Boeing 90 days<\/a>\u00a0to come up with a plan to improve quality and ease the agency\u2019s safety concerns. Whitaker described the plan as the beginning, not the end, of a process to improve Boeing.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a long road to get Boeing back to where they need to be, making safe airplanes,\u201d he told ABC News last week.<\/p>\n The FAA limited Boeing production of the 737 Max, its best-selling plane, although analysts believe the number the company is making has fallen even lower than the FAA cap.<\/p>\n Boeing\u2019s recent problems could expose it to criminal prosecution related to the deadly crashes of two Max jetliners in 2018 and 2019. The Justice Department said two weeks ago that Boeing violated terms of a\u00a02021 settlement<\/a>\u00a0that allowed it to avoid prosecution for fraud. The charge was based on the company allegedly deceiving regulators about a flight-control system that was implicated in the crashes.<\/p>\n Most of the recent problems have been related to the Max, however Boeing and key supplier Spirit AeroSystems have also struggled with manufacturing flaws on a larger plane, the 787 Dreamliner. Boeing has suffered setbacks on other programs including its\u00a0Starliner space capsule<\/a>, a military refueling tanker, and new\u00a0Air Force One<\/a>\u00a0presidential jets.<\/p>\n Boeing officials have vowed to\u00a0regain the trust<\/a>\u00a0of regulators and the flying public. Boeing has\u00a0fallen behind<\/a>\u00a0rival Airbus<\/a>, and production setbacks have\u00a0hurt the company\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0ability to generate cash.<\/p>\n The company says it is reducing \u201ctraveled work\u201d \u2014 assembly tasks that are done out of their proper chronological order \u2014 and keeping closer tabs on Spirit AeroSystems.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSubscribe to the CFO Daily newsletter to keep up with the trends, issues, and executives shaping corporate finance. Sign up<\/a> for free.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n