Speaking in front of the U.S. Senate, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg admitted that the embattled planemaker has made "serious missteps" in recent years, and that the company has made "sweeping changes" to improve on those mistakes. 

Ortberg testified in front of the Senate Commerce Committee on April 2, where he fielded questions from lawmakers about Boeing's direction, following a tumultuous year punctuated by the blowout of a door plug aboard a 737 Max jet, subsequent investigations that revealed a culture of rushed work and low safety standards, a costly machinists strike, and a federal fraud charge stemming from two fatal plane crashes in 2018 and 2019 respectively. Ortberg acknowledged to the committee that Boeing's string of controversies was "unacceptable," while stressing the company's "deep commitment" to ensuring the safety of its processes and planes in the months and years to come. 

“We’ve made drastic changes to our internal process to ensure that this will never happen again,” he said, including mandatory safety training for all employees, added inspection points for assembled 737 fuselages, and a strengthening of its confidential employee reporting systems.

Following the door plug incident, the Federal Aviation Administration capped Boeing's 737 Max production at 38 jets a month, although the company hasn't reached that benchmark since the cap was introduced. Ortberg told lawmakers that believes Boeing can eventually produce 38 Max planes in a single month by the end of 2025, but vowed that the planemaker wouldn't stress its limits to achieve that goal. In a March 31 interview with aviation outlet The Air Current, acting FAA head Chris Rocheleau also noted that Boeing has "a way to go" before the 38-plane monthly cap will be lifted.