Boeing still has a 'long way to go': Sec. Buttigieg

Boeing (BA) is facing a host of issues, from the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) probe of the company's 787 Dreamliner inspections to the Alaska Airlines (ALK) mid-flight door blowout. US ​​Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg talks to Yahoo Finance's Brian Sozzi about how the Department of Transportation is looking at the company.

"The good news is that there has been a lot of engagement. They've taken a number of steps in response to the pressure that the FAA is putting on them, but there's still a long way to go," Sec. Buttigieg says. The FAA is barring Boeing from increasing its production rate until the company has proven that it can address the mounting safety concerns. "At the end of the day, it's all about the results. They're saying the right things, they're taking encouraging steps, but we need to make sure that we see it on the shop floor, that we see it in terms of the quality of the product that rolls off the line," he adds.

On whether Americans can trust Boeing, Sec. Buttigieg says, "Look, I'm on a Boeing airplane every few days... so this is personal to me as well as something I care about as a policymaker. And bottom line is the FAA is not going to allow anything to go forward that they're not satisfied is safe."

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This post was written by Melanie Riehl

Video transcript

Uh a lot of the, the pilots and flight attendants they're on Boeing planes.

Mr Secretary, uh Have you been encouraged by anything this company is doing to address legacy problems it's having and seemingly new problems that continue to pop up almost every other week.

Yeah, the good news is that there has been a lot of engagement.

They've taken a number of steps in response to the pressure that the FAA is putting on them, but there's still a long way to go in a few days.

We're going to see the results of the 90 day review.

The administrator, Mike Whitaker put them on a 90 day clock and said we need to see a comprehensive plan on how you're going to on top of these quality issues and what it's going to take to get that done.

We know that there's new leadership coming in at Boeing as well at the end of the day.

It's all about the results.

They're saying the right things, they're taking encouraging steps, but we need to make sure that we see it on the shop floor that we see it in terms of the quality of the product that rolls off the line and that's why fa is taking this extra step of not permitting them to increase their production rate until they've shown beyond a doubt that they can safely address those quality issues and increase that production in a way that's consistent with the quality that everybody expects from such an important company and producer in the United States.

Should, should Americans trust Boeing that they're going to get it right.

Look, I, I, I'm on a, a Boeing airplane every few days.

I was on one yesterday.

I think I'll be on one next week too.

So I this is personal to me as well as something I care about as a policymaker and bottom line is FAA is not going to allow anything to uh to go forward that uh that they're not satisfied is safe.

Sometimes that means putting extreme pressure on a player like Boeing or on the aviation sector.

But uh uh you know, it's in everybody's interest, including those companies for safety to be beyond a shadow of a doubt.

And that's the standard.

Often for some of these safety engineering choices, there is a billion to one standard.

As in, there has to be less than a one in a billion chance of failure for the FAA to be satisfied.

And that is what has made flying on a commercial airliner in America by far the safest form of transportation.

A lot of work is going to go into keeping it that way.