BOEING POSTS A $355 MILLION LOSS AS THE PLANE MAKER TRIES TO DIG OUT FROM UNDER ITS LATEST CRISIS

Boeing said this week that it lost $355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.

Boeing’s CEO said the company is in “a tough moment,” and its focus is on fixing its manufacturing issues, not the financial results.

Company executives have been forced to talk more about safety and less about finances since a door plug blew out of a Boeing 737 Max during an Alaska Airlines flight in January, leaving a gaping hole in the plane.

The accident halted progress that Boeing seemed to be making while recovering from two deadly crashes of Max jets in 2018 and 2019.

Now those crashes are back in the spotlight, too. Later Wednesday, families of some of the 346 people killed in the crashes are scheduled to meet with U.S. Justice Department officials. Family members have tried unsuccessfully to undo a 2021 settlement between the department and Boeing that let the company avoid criminal prosecution.

“Although we report first-quarter financial results today, our focus remains on the sweeping actions we are taking following the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 accident,” Boeing CEO David Calhoun told employees in a memo.

Calhoun ticked off a series of actions the company is taking and reported “significant progress” in improving manufacturing quality, much of it by slowing down production, which means fewer planes for its airline customers.