Boeing has rejected accusations by a whistleblower that it has suppressed employee concerns about safety and quality at the company. The US airframer says it has taken "important steps to foster a safety culture that empowers and encourages all employees to raise their voice" since 2020. "We know we have more work to do," Boeing acknowledges. But it insists action is being taken and employees are using the company's confidential reporting channel "SpeakUp" for safety and quality concerns and improvement suggestions, which was implemented amid the initial 737 Max crisis in 2019. Take-up of the scheme has particularly increased, Boeing adds, since the inflight door-plug separation accident on an Alaska Airlines Max 9 on 5 January. "Since January 2024, there has been a more than 500% increase in employee reports through our 'Speak Up' portal compared to 2023, which signals progress toward a robust reporting culture that is not fearful of retaliation." The company also cites "tens of thousands of ideas for improving our production system and culture" brought forward by employees during "quality stand downs" with more than 40,000 employees across multiple facilities in the wake of the Alaska Max 9 accident. "We continue to put safety and quality above all else and share information transparently with our regulator, customers and other stakeholders," the manufacturer asserts, adding: "Retaliation is strictly prohibited at Boeing." During a 17 April hearing before the US Senate's committee on homeland security and governmental affairs, a Boeing quality engineer, Sam Salehpour, accused the company of having created a "culture that prioritises speed of production over safety and quality and incentivises management to overlook significant defects." "Despite what Boeing officials state publicly," Salehpour adds in his testimony, "there is no safety culture at Boeing and employees like me who speak up about defects with its production activities and lack of quality control are ignored, marginalised, threatened, sidelined, and worse." Salehpour says he is "deeply troubled" by manufacturing issues he observed on the 787 and 777 programmes. Boeing responds it is "fully confident in the safety" of the 777 and 787 programmes and has found "zero evidence" of premature airframe fatigue which, Salehpour argues, is likely to occur in fuselage section joints.

JetBlue Airways has appointed Dave Clark as its new head of finance and strategy. Clark will be responsible for financial planning and analysis, strategy and business development, as well as investor relations, JetBlue says. He will report to chief financial officer Ursula Hurley. According to a profile on JetBlue's website and his LinkedIn profile, Clark's current role at the company is head of revenue and planning. In the same 18 April announcement, JetBlue also said that Daniel Shurz has been named its new head of revenue, network, and enterprise planning. Over the past 20 years, Shurz has served as vice-president, network planning for Air Canada and senior vice-president, commercial for Frontier Airlines, and held strategy and business development roles at both carriers, according to JetBlue. Shurz will lead JetBlue's network planning, airline partnerships, sales and revenue management, and enterprise planning teams which the airline says are "critical elements of the company's push for profitability and plans to strengthen its network positioning". He will report to JetBlue president, Marty St George. JetBlue also announced the appointment of Melinda Maher as vice-president, treasurer and infrastructure. She has served as vice-president, financial planning and analysis and structural cost since 2022. She previously served on JetBlue's finance team from 2013-2016 before taking on leadership roles at Alaska Airlines and Amazon. Shelly Griessel has been promoted to vice-president, customer support. She joined JetBlue in 2022 and since then has served as managing director, customer support, responsible for JetBlue's "omnichannel management of all customer contacts". She will continue to report to Jayne O’Brien, JetBlue's head of marketing and customer support. Katherine Celli has been named vice-president, culture, talent management, and organisational effectiveness. "In addition to bolstering JetBlue's efforts around culture, a key competitive advantage, Katherine will have oversight of talent management and organisational effectiveness," the airline states. Celli has been with JetBlue for 16 years, most recently as the culture and change management planning leader for the proposed Spirit integration. She will report to Tracy Lawlor, JetBlue's interim chief people officer. "JetBlue's leadership team is laser-focused on our objectives of returning to profitability and driving improved reliability while bolstering the unique culture that sets us apart in the industry," states Joanna Geraghty, JetBlue's chief executive. "We're happy to welcome Daniel Shurz to JetBlue and also to continue to strengthen our leadership team across commercial, finance and people to set our organisation up for success into the next chapter."

Once its fleet size hits 150 aircraft, all-Boeing operator SunExpress will need to look to "diversify" it, according to the chief executive of the Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa joint venture airline. Speaking at the UK Aviation Club on 17 April, Max Kownatzki said that once the Turkish airline has taken delivery of its existing order commitments with Boeing into the next decade SunExpress will need to diversify into a "multi-fleet operation" to "keep it in balance". Asked if this meant the carrier could look to order Airbus units, he said: "Right now we're at 77 aircraft in the summer peak this year. That's the size of an airline where I think a single fleet makes sense. With 166 aircraft we're shooting for in 2035, that may change and then it's important to basically not be dependent on one single aircraft manufacturer." Having engine choice and availability is "even more critical" than aircraft manufacturer concentration, he says, which makes diversification a pressing factor. SunExpress talks to Airbus but has no orders or commitments to disclose with them, according to Kownatzki. His airline ordered 40 737s, split between the -800 and -8 Max variants in 2014 and topped this up with an order in November 2023 for 90 737 Max narrowbodies, which included 28 Max 8s and 17 Max 10s, plus options for an additional 45 Max jets. It currently has 74 aircraft on order and 45 options, fleets data shows. Kownatzki says SunExpress is expecting to take delivery of five Max units in 2024 and does not expect to see any delays to these, which he says is important because the carrier has long-term commitments to its tour operator bookings. SunExpress is talking to Boeing about a further five deliveries in 2025, according to Kownatzki. Any delays, however, could be offset by extending expiring leased aircraft, he adds. But, Kownatzki says, the challenge is ensuring that the Max jets arrive in the first half of 2025. This is important to cater to the carrier's traditional high summer season market. If deliveries are pushed from February to October, for example, Kownatzki says it will "hurt" the carrier's revenue.