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At the annual Boeing shareholders meeting, an investor asked general manager Dennis Muilenburg to explain why the company built the 737 Max with a single fault-prone sensor.
"It should have gone through some sort of internal review or something like that," said Boeing's shareholder at the meeting. His name could not be confirmed.
"It's not necessary for more than 300 people to die every time to discover that something is not reliable," he said.
Boeing's CEO and Board of Directors faced tough questions from investors and the media on Monday, the first time since two 737 Max jet accidents plunged the company into chaos. Speaking in front of a half-empty auditorium at the Chicago Field Museum, Muilenburg tried to reassure investors that the company takes safety issues seriously and is working with regulators to update the features. aircraft techniques that contributed to both accidents.
"In terms of security, there are no competing priorities," Muilenburg said at the meeting.
In defending Boeing, the CEO insisted that the company "assume" some responsibility for improving the safety of the 737 Max. But, to the frustration of some shareholders present, he did not accept that the aircraft was built with a design flaw. He repeated several times that the accidents were caused by an "event chain", of which Boeing's software and sensors were only part of it.
[Boeing suffers rare drop in earnings amid uncertain timeline for return of Max]
This explanation is disputed by the family members of the victims in both collisions, some in the rain, outside the Field Museum, holding umbrellas and placards with pictures of deceased people.
"Their response has been a joke," said Tarek Milleron, the uncle of a 24-year-old American woman who died in the crash of Ethiopian Airlines in March. "It's a hollow denial. They talk about event chains during accidents, but we need to know the chain of events inside Boeing that has led to these crashes. "
Milleron said that he had gone to the meeting from his home in Berkeley, California, to stay out and draw attention to the lives of the 346 people lost in the accidents.
Muilenburg did not say how long the 737 Max could fly again. He added that the company was working on a software update of the security issue and was coordinating with the FAA to prepare for an official certification flight. Boeing hopes that this will allow global regulators to lift the basics of Max.
Boeing's executives and board faced increasing pressure in the weeks following the second accident. In a note to customers last month, Glass Lewis, an investor advisory group, said that the 737 Max's accidents "indicate a potential risk of failure of the board's oversight over risk management "and recommended that one of the directors, the former CEO of American Airlines, Lawrence Kellner, be dismissed. the board for its oversight role of the audit committee.
[Boeing’s CEO took home $30 million last year]
At the meeting, the shareholders voted in favor of retaining Kellner and all other current directors who could run for re-election. Nikki Haley, former ambassador to the United Nations and governor of South Carolina, was officially added to the board of directors after being appointed by the company in February.
Boeing paid each of its directors more than $ 300,000 in cash and stock last year. The group includes CEOs of Duke Energy and biotech company Amgen, as well as retired Marine Advisor Edmund P. Giambastiani and Caroline Kennedy, former US Ambassador to Japan and daughter of John F. Kennedy.
The board has approved a pay package for 2018 for Muilenburg of about $ 23.4 million in cash and shares.
The independence of these directors is questionable. Muilenburg is both CEO and Chairman of the Board, an increasingly rare power for an executive of a large public corporation that, according to governance experts, can undermine the board's ability to have to contain it. Mr. Muilenburg and two other directors also sit on Caterpillar's Board of Directors, which could limit the criticism these directors make of Boiling.
In a statement, Boeing said the company had the power "to continue to evaluate the management structure of the company, provided that there is always strong and independent oversight of management and a strong leadership of the from an independent board ".
At the meeting, Boeing shareholders rejected a proposal to create an independent chairman position. Investors also voted against measures that would force the company to reveal more details about his government's lobbying.
An investor who spoke at the meeting and whose name could not be confirmed said he was concerned that Boeing's design process was not sufficiently supervised.
"What are you doing to make sure that there is an outside person or outsiders who have no interest in the outcome? Asked the woman, who described herself as a frequent flyer with friends and family.
[Read our continuing coverage of the Boeing 737 Max crisis]
Muilenburg said the company relied on several independent controls in its aircraft construction process. He defended Boeing's relationship with the FAA, which was recently criticized for giving up too much of the Boeing aircraft certification process.
"This is a way for the FAA to leverage the deep technical expertise of our team while maintaining the required independent evaluation," he said.
After the hour – long shareholder meeting, Muilenburg answered questions from the media for about 16 minutes before leaving the room.
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