WASHINGTON, Jan 22 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's

nominee to head the U.S. Transportation Department said he will

keep in place a cap on production of Boeing 737 MAX

planes put in place after a mid-air panel blowout last year

until he is satisfied it can be safely raised.

"The cap will be maintained and will be lifted when I, in

consultation with the career safety experts at FAA and the

Administrator, have confidence that a production increase will

not reduce the quality of the aircraft being produced," said

former Representative Sean Duffy in written comments submitted

to the Senate Commerce Committee.

In January 2024, then Federal Aviation Administration chief

Mike Whitaker imposed the 38 planes per month production cap

after a door panel missing four key bolts flew off a new Alaska

Airlines 737 MAX 9.

Duffy, whose nomination was approved by the committee on

Wednesday on a 28-0 vote, said last week that Boeing ( BA ) needed

"tough love" to get back on track.

In his written responses to questions from senators on

Wednesday, Duffy said he planned to meet with Boeing's ( BA )

leadership at the "earliest feasible moment" so he could "make

clear that the Department and the FAA will continue to hold them

accountable to the action plan they developed, and which was

accepted by the department."

Duffy added that he "will also be instructing FAA leadership

to monitor the adequacy of the action plan."

In May 2022, the FAA approved a three-year renewal of

Boeing's ( BA ) Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) program

that delegates some aircraft certification tasks to the

planemaker rather than the five years Boeing ( BA ) had requested. The

approval will expire in a few months.

Duffy said he will work with the FAA Administrator and

career safety experts "on the future parameters of Boeing's ( BA )

ODA." The arrangement came under scrutiny after two deadly 737

MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 linked to one of the aircraft's

systems.

Boeing ( BA ) declined to comment.

Whitaker stepped down as FAA administrator on Monday, when

Trump took office, and the new administration has not nominated

a successor or said who will run the agency on an acting basis.