Boeing C.E.O. Apologizes for Quality and Safety Issues at Senate Hearing

Shortly after Boeing’s chief executive, Dave Calhoun, took his seat, families who lost relatives in the 2018 and 2019 crashes of the company’s 737 Max 8 planes called out to him, demanding that he turn around and acknowledge them and the photos of their loved ones.

Among those behind Mr. Calhoun were the parents and brother of Samya Rose Stumo, the 24-year-old who was killed in the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines accident and the grandniece of Ralph Nader, the consumer advocate and former presidential candidate. Nearby sat the family of John Barnett, the former Boeing engineer and whistle-blower who died by suicide earlier this year in the midst of a Justice Department criminal investigation into the company. Others held photos of their loved ones lost in the crashes.

“I would like to apologize, on behalf of all of our Boeing associates spread throughout the world, past and present, for your losses,” Mr. Calhoun said while facing the families. “And I apologize for the grief that we have caused.”

The hearing on Tuesday was Mr. Calhoun’s first appearance before Congress since a January incident in which the door plug of a 737 Max 9 plane ripped off during an Alaska Airlines flight at an elevation of about 16,000 feet near Portland, Ore.

Mr. Calhoun, who plans to step down at the end of the year, took over as chief executive in 2019 after two fatal crashes of a smaller version of the jet, the 737 Max 8. Those crashes, in which 346 people died, led to a 20-month global ban on the plane.

Members of a Senate investigative panel questioned Mr. Calhoun about reports of the company retaliating against whistle-blowers who raised safety and quality concerns, how parts made of questionable titanium made it into Boeing planes without detection