*

Blumenthal is top Democrat on Senate investigative panel

*

Senator calls proposed fine not a "meaningful deterrent"

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. Senator

Richard Blumenthal said the Federal Aviation Administration's

proposed $3.1 million fine against Boeing ( BA ) for a series of

safety violations is inadequate and wants the agency to explain

how it calculated the penalty.

"For Boeing ( BA ), such fines are easily absorbed as the cost of doing

business, not a meaningful deterrent to dangerous behavior,"

Blumenthal wrote in a letter sent on Tuesday and released on

Wednesday to FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford, an appointee of

Republican President Donald Trump. "Unless penalties rise to the

level that forces the company to invest in real safety reforms,

the risks to the flying public will persist."

The FAA and Boeing ( BA ) did not immediately respond to requests

for comment.

Blumenthal is the top Democrat on a Senate committee that

has investigated Boeing ( BA ) safety issues and chaired the panel when

it looked into a January 2024 mid-air cabin blowout incident

involving a new Alaska Airlines 737 MAX airplane. The

panel under Blumenthal released a report showing that Boeing ( BA )

whistleblowers had raised significant concerns about the

company's manufacturing processes.

The FAA said it found hundreds of quality system violations

at the planemaker's 737 factory in Renton, Washington, and the

737 fuselage factory of Boeing ( BA ) subcontractor Spirit AeroSystems ( SPR )

in Wichita, Kansas, from September 2023 through February

2024.

"If there was discretion in how penalties were calculated -

or if reductions are likely to follow - then the FAA risks

sending the message that systemic safety violations carry no

serious consequences," Blumenthal wrote.

The Alaska Airlines incident, which involved a 737 MAX that

was found to have been missing four key bolts, damaged Boeing's ( BA )

reputation and led to a grounding of the MAX 9 for two weeks and

a production cap of 38 planes per month by the FAA that remains

in place.

The FAA also has said Boeing ( BA ) presented two unairworthy

aircraft to the agency for approval.

The FAA found that a Boeing ( BA ) employee pressured a co-worker

who was performing tasks on behalf of the FAA to sign off on a

737 MAX so the company could meet its delivery schedule despite

the fact the co-worker had determined that the aircraft did not

comply with regulatory standards.

The Alaska Airlines incident prompted the U.S. Justice

Department under Trump's Democratic predecessor Joe Biden to

open a criminal investigation and declare that Boeing ( BA ) was not in

compliance with a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement made after

the company had misled the FAA during the 737 MAX regulatory

certification process.

"The public deserves confidence that fines are not token

gestures, but real enforcement tools," Blumenthal wrote.