The Federal Aviation Administration proposed a $3.1 million fine against Boeing on Friday as a penalty for manufacturing defects that led to the explosive decompression of an Alaska Airlines 737 Max in January.

The agency said it plans to impose fines totaling $3,139,319 against Boeing "for safety violations that occurred from September 2023 through February 2024."

The National Transportation Safety Board blamed Boeing for the January door plug failure in a June report. The NTSB had previously shown that missing and improperly installed bolts were the immediate cause of the blowout, and the June report suggested those issues resulted from insufficient training and guidance for Boeing's employees and contractors, and poor oversight of Boeing's processes by the FAA.

In a short news release announcing the proposed fine, the FAA uncovered more troubling details about the culture at Boeing.

"The FAA found that a non-ODA Boeing employee pressured a Boeing ODA unit member to sign off on a Boeing 737-MAX airplane so Boeing could meet its delivery schedule, even though the ODA member determined the aircraft did not comply with applicable standards," the agency's statement said.

ODA, or Organization Designation Authorization, refers to an FAA program where companies are permitted to monitor their own regulatory compliance.

The FAA statement also said that the agency, "identified hundreds of quality system violations at Boeing’s 737 factory in Renton, Washington, and Boeing subcontractor Spirit AeroSystems’ 737 factory in Wichita, Kansas. Additionally, Boeing presented two unairworthy aircraft to the FAA for airworthiness certificates and failed to follow its quality system."

Boeing has 30 days to officially respond to the FAA's proposed fines, but said it is working on improving its safety culture and that it is confident that it it improving.

"We regret the January 2024 door-plug accident and continue to work on strengthening our safety culture and improving first-time quality and accountability across our operations. Last year, under the oversight of the FAA, we instituted a Safety & Quality Plan with key performance indicators to enhance safety management and quality assurance in airplane production," a statement from the company said. "Our team continues to implement these improvements, such as investing in workforce training, strengthening production system compliance and encouraging employees to speak up."

The manufacturer has previously made promises about work it's doing to improve its safety culture and the quality of its aircraft, including during a media tour of its 737 assembly line in Renton, Washington, last year.

Zach Wichter is a travel reporter and writes the Cruising Altitude column for USA TODAY. He is based in New York and you can reach him at zwichter@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: FAA says Boeing should pay $3.1M in fines over door failure and other safety lapses

Reporting by Zach Wichter, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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