Niraj Chokshi

The low-cost airline, which has been unprofitable for four years, is trying to reduce costs after a federal judge blocked a proposed deal for JetBlue to acquire Spirit.

Problems have plagued the manufacturer even after two fatal crashes, and many current and former employees blame its focus on making planes more quickly.

The company’s issues date back years, employees said, and were compounded by the pandemic, when it lost thousands of experienced workers.

The carrier, which has experienced several recent mishaps, told employees to expect a review by federal regulators in coming weeks.

The investigation is tied to an incident on an Alaska Airlines flight in early January. Boeing also told a Senate panel that it cannot find a record of the work done on the Alaska plane.

Boeing’s quality control practices have been criticized after a panel on one of the company’s 737 Max jets blew open during a flight in January.

The order is the largest by the airline since 2011 and signals the company’s confidence in Boeing after a recent safety incident on a 737 Max plane.

Under pressure to improve safety, Boeing may reassume ownership of Spirit, which makes the bodies of the troubled 737 Max planes.

The department is looking into whether the blowout of a door panel in January violated a 2021 settlement after two fatal plane crashes.

The report by a group of experts was commissioned at the behest of Congress and in response to fatal crashes involving 737 Max jets in 2018 and 2019.