The U.S. FAA will hold the Boeing Company (BA.US) accountable and improve its safety management plan.

According to sources familiar with the matter, written testimony shows that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) chief will tell Congress on Tuesday that the agency will hold Boeing Company accountable to ensure the safety of aircraft manufactured by the airplane maker and improve its own safety management plan. FAA chief Michael Whitaker will tell the House aviation subcommittee, "Due to systemic production quality issues, Boeing Company must make significant changes, change its quality system, and ensure appropriate safety layers are in place." The subcommittee is holding a hearing on Boeing Company's quality improvement plan. "I am prepared to fully exercise my authority to ensure accountability, whether it comes from the manufacturer, airlines, or the FAA's own operations." Whitaker will also attend a Senate committee hearing on Boeing Company on Wednesday. In June of this year, Whitaker stated that the agency had been "too hands-off" in overseeing Boeing Company before a new 737 MAX 9 aircraft of Alaska Air Group, Inc. experienced an in-flight emergency in January, and questioned previous audits. Boeing Company is facing investigations by the US Department of Justice and the FAA into the Alaska incident. Whitaker has said that the agency has permanently increased the use of Boeing Company's own inspection personnel and in January had halted production ramp-up of its best-selling 737 MAX until the aircraft manufacturer made improvements in quality and safety. Whitaker stated that the FAA is monitoring the health of Boeing Company's production and quality systems through reviews of key performance indicators, which "provide real-time visibility into the production system and provide specific control limits to trigger corrective actions when necessary." Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell is urging the FAA to improve its safety management system, a series of policies and procedures to proactively identify and address potential operational hazards. Cantwell has called for a thorough review of the agency's oversight of Boeing Company. Whitaker stated that the FAA is "reassessing our current safety management measures and developing a strategy to improve our entire organization's safety management plan." He noted that the agency is also exploring how to use "vast internal and external data resources to become more predictive in identifying risks across the entire aviation system."