The plane’s certification, expected this year, has been pushed back indefinitely as Boeing addresses issues in its factory.

A rough start to the year for Boeing has only gotten worse as the company continues to hit hurdles.

DOJ investigators have reportedly begun reaching out to passengers and crew aboard the flight where a door plug blew out in January.

The changes, which were communicated at an all-employee meeting on March 7, come two months after a near-disaster on a new Boeing 737 Max operated by Alaska Airlines.

The incident is the latest involving Boeing’s top-selling jetliner, which was grounded worldwide in 2019 following the second of two fatal crashes that killed 346 people.

The accusation is that no documents exist at Boeing to explain how the airplane left its factory missing bolts that would have prevented the accident in the first place.

A successful deal would have created the fifth-largest carrier in the United States and helped Spirit ensure its survival.

The shortfalls were found at both Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc., which makes most of the 737’s fuselage.

Former Boeing division Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc. is the supplier at the center of a spate of recent quality issues affecting the 737 Max airliner.

The potential of a lucrative ethanol-based sustainable aviation fuel industry could be a major boon to U.S. corn ethanol.