By Allison Lampert and David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Boeing's new boss Kelly Ortberg on Thursday will meet U.S. workers who produce the company's strong-selling 737 MAX jet and pledged to be closer to production lines, as he faces the steep task of "restoring trust," according to a message to employees.
The former Rockwell Collins boss will prioritize meeting workers and talking to suppliers, government officials and regulators as he takes over on Thursday as head of the U.S. planemaker, which is bleeding cash and beset by problems expected to take years to fix.
Ortberg, 64, said he plans to be based in Seattle, close to Boeing commercial airplane programs such as the MAX produced in the suburb of Renton, Washington. MAX's production has slowed following a Jan. 5 mid-air panel blowout on a near-new model that triggered a safety crisis.
"Because what we do is complex, I firmly believe that we need to get closer to the production lines and development programs across the company," he wrote in the letter. "In fact, I’ll be on the factory floor in Renton today, talking with employees and learning about challenges we need to overcome."
Ortberg's to-do list includes mending relationships with airlines and employees, boosting output of MAX jets from about 25 to 38 planes a month by year-end and securing a labor deal to avoid a possible strike this year.
On Wednesday, the head of the National Transportation Safety Board said the Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 emergency was entirely avoidable because Boeing had been repeatedly warned about the problem of unauthorized production.
Boeing has said documentation, a critical part of aerospace manufacturing, is missing for an earlier removal of the panel that fell off the plane, which lacked four bolts.
NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said staff at the independent safety agency would like to complete a probe into the Alaska flight by early next year.
Ortberg also plans to visit employees at Boeing's key supplier Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita, Kansas, next week, according to officials from both companies. Last month, Boeing agreed to buy back cash-strapped Spirit Aero, whose core plants it spun off in 2005, for $4.7 billion in stock.
U.S. Senator Jerry Moran invited Ortberg and Boeing chairman Steve Mollenkopf to Wichita next week where they will tour Spirit, a spokesperson for the Kansas Republican said.
Spirit Aero spokesperson Joe Buccino said the high-profile visit would showcase the company's commercial and defense operations.
“We appreciate Senator Moran's leadership and representation for our Wichita workforce,” Buccino said.
Ortberg added in the message to employees that stakes are high for Boeing to resolve its problems.
"People’s lives depend on what we do every day, and we must keep that top of mind with every decision we make," he said.
"Restoring trust starts with meeting our commitments - whether that’s building high-quality, safe commercial aircraft, (or) delivering on defense and space products that allow our customers to meet their mission."
(Reporting By Allison Lampert in Montreal and David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Josie Kao and Rod Nickel)
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