March 11 (Reuters) -

The Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) audit of

Boeing's ( BA ) 737 MAX production process after a panel blew

off an Alaska Airlines jet in January failed 33 of 89

tests, The New York Times

reported

on Monday.

Supplier Spirit AeroSystems ( SPR ), which makes the

fuselage for the MAX, passed six of thirteen audits and failed

the rest, according to the presentation viewed by NYT.

The FAA, Boeing ( BA ) and Spirit AeroSystems ( SPR ) did not

immediately reply to a Reuters' request for comment.

Earlier in the day, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete

Buttigieg said he expects the plane maker to cooperate in

investigations by the Justice Department and National

Transportation Safety Board into the 737 MAX 9 mid-air emergency

on Jan. 5.

Meanwhile, the FAA's Michael Whitaker said the agency

and Boeing ( BA ) hope to define the milestones the manufacturer must

meet in order to increase the MAX production rate in the next 30

days.

Last week, the agency said it found "non-compliance

issues in Boeing's ( BA ) manufacturing process control, parts handling

and storage, and product control."

(Reporting by Urvi Dugar in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank

Dhaniwala and Varun H K)