Boeing 737-MAX

A federal judge in Texas has rejected a plea deal between Boeing and the U.S. Justice Department, saying the court should play a bigger role in selecting an independent monitor to oversee the company.

A Boeing spokesperson said Tuesday that the company needs to go through many steps before restarting assembly lines in Washington state and Oregon.

Boeing's CEO, David Calhoun, is getting his day in front of Congress, and lawmakers are expected to have many questions about safety at the troubled aircraft company.

Boeing has violated the terms of a deal to avoid prosecution after the fatal crashes of two 737 Max planes more than five years ago, the Department of Justice told a federal judge on Tuesday.

The payment covered Alaska Airlines' loss related to an accident in January in which a panel blew off one of its Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliners midflight.

The findings, part of a six-week audit by the FAA, singled out both Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems in the wake of January's in-flight door plug blowout on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 jet.

The Boeing executive who oversaw the troubled 737 Max program, Ed Clark, has left the company. It's part of a broader management shakeup after a door plug panel blew off a jet in midair last month.

Federal investigators are scrutinizing Spirit AeroSystems, a major Boeing supplier based in Kansas, as they try to understand why a fuselage panel blew off an Alaska Airlines jet in midair last month.

While the Federal Aviation Administration says the grounded 737 Max 9 aircraft can resume flying after inspections, the agency imposed sweeping jet production restrictions at Boeing factories.

A reporter who's chronicled the culture at Boeing said the company's response has been quite different, so far, from its reaction to fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 involving the company's 737 MAX 8 jets.