Boeing Stock Slides Amid Fresh Safety Probe into 737 Fleet

By Tristan, Contributor
March 21, 2025 – 11:45 AM PDT, Seattle, WA

Boeing Co.’s stock tumbled 3% today as the FAA opened a new safety investigation into its 737 fleet, sparked by a whistleblower’s claims of shoddy inspections at its Renton, Washington plant. The allegations, detailed in a leaked memo to Congress, say workers skipped critical fuselage checks on dozens of 737 MAX jets in 2024, citing pressure to hit delivery quotas. The probe’s a gut punch for Boeing, still reeling from past crashes and a bruising strike.

The whistleblower, a 15-year Renton veteran, alleges supervisors ignored flaws like misaligned rivets and incomplete stress tests, greenlighting planes for airlines like Southwest and United. The memo claims at least 20 jets—now flying—could have “latent defects,” though no incidents have been tied to them yet. FAA chief Michael Huerta confirmed the review, vowing “zero tolerance for shortcuts” as inspectors descend on Renton this week.
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Boeing’s response was swift but tense. CEO Kelly Ortberg pledged “full cooperation,” insisting safety’s non-negotiable despite the whistleblower’s “troubling” account. The company’s pointing to its post-2019 overhaul—new training, tighter audits—after the MAX crashes killed 346 people and grounded the fleet. Still, the timing’s brutal: Boeing’s just clawed back from a 40-day machinists’ strike that cost $1 billion and delayed 737 deliveries by months.
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The stakes are sky-high. The 737 MAX is Boeing’s cash cow, with 4,000 orders in the pipeline worth $300 billion. Any grounding or recall could tank that, especially with Airbus’s A320neo eating market share—Airbus delivered 700 planes last year to Boeing’s 400. Airlines are on edge too; Southwest’s CEO hinted at “contingency plans” if the probe escalates. Wall Street’s downgrading Boeing, with Citi slashing its target to $210 from $240.

Root causes point to culture and crunch. The whistleblower claims Renton’s been stretched thin since 2023, when Boeing ramped 737 output to 38 monthly amid a travel boom. Union reps back the story, saying staff cuts and overtime pushed quality aside—Renton’s workforce is down 10% since 2021. Ortberg’s promised a “root-and-branch review,” but critics say it’s déjà vu from prior scandals.

Regulators aren’t messing around. The FAA’s report, due mid-April, could mandate inspections across the 737 fleet—1,200 planes—or worse, a partial grounding. That’d hit Boeing’s $10 billion cash reserve, already strained by strike payouts and Starliner losses. Congress is circling too, with a House hearing set for May where Ortberg’s likely to face a grilling.
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Boeing’s fighting to keep trust aloft. It’s rolling out real-time quality trackers at Renton and briefing airline CEOs this week to stem panic. But the stock’s slide shows the damage—investors see a company that can’t shake its ghosts. Whether this is a hiccup or a nosedive depends on the FAA’s findings—and Boeing’s ability to finally fix what’s broken.