In the course of the listening to, Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri grilled Calhoun, accusing him of “slicing corners.”
“You’re eliminating security procedures. You’re sticking it to your staff. You’re slicing again jobs since you’re attempting to squeeze every bit of revenue you’ll be able to out of this firm,” Hawley mentioned, per a clip from the listening to uploaded onto YouTube. “You are strip-mining it. You are strip-mining Boeing.”
Sen. Hawley additionally talked about Calhoun’s almost $33 million payday for final yr and requested the CEO why he nonetheless has not resigned.
“Senator, I am sticking this by. I am happy with having taken the job. I am happy with our security file. And I’m very happy with our Boeing individuals,” Calhoun mentioned.
“You are happy with the protection file?” Sen. Hawley interrupted.
“I’m happy with each motion we have taken,” Calhoun mentioned.
“Frankly, sir, I feel it is a travesty that you just’re nonetheless in your job,” Sen. Hawley responded.
Calhoun took over Boeing in January 2020, throughout a interval when the corporate’s 737 Max planes had been grounded following two deadly crashes that killed 346 individuals.
Family of these killed within the crashes of the Lion Air Flight 610 in 2018 and the Ethiopian Airways Flight 302 in 2019 had been additionally current on the listening to. A few of them held up images of their deceased family members.
The listening to was the first time a high-ranking Boeing official appeared earlier than Congress, ever since a 737 Max 9 door plug blew out of an Alaska Airways flight in January.
Calhoun introduced in March that he would retire by the tip of the yr, however the firm is having hassle on the lookout for a alternative.
Hours earlier than the listening to, the subcommittee investigating Boeing’s security practices launched a 204-page report that contained new whistleblower allegations that the 737 program was dropping defective components, which can have made their method into new plane.
Boeing didn’t reply to a request for touch upon Calhoun’s trade with Sen. Hawley. Nevertheless, a consultant instructed BI the corporate was reviewing the brand new whistleblower claims.
“We constantly encourage staff to report all considerations as our precedence is to make sure the protection of our airplanes and the flying public,” a Boeing spokesperson mentioned.
