Month: February 2024

On Wednesday, Boeing announced that the head of the company’s 737 Max program is leaving the company.  The move comes in the wake of a January mishap that has cost the aircraft manufacturer billions of dollars in value. On January 5, a Boeing-manufactured Alaska Airlines plane door panel blew out midair over Portland, forcing an emergency landing.

In an email to employees Wednesday Boeing Executive Vice President and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes Stanley A. Deal announced several leadership changes which included Ed Clark, the head of the company’s Boeing’s 737 Max program, being removed from his position.  Deal said: “Ed departs with my, and our, deepest gratitude for his many significant contributions over nearly 18 years of dedicated service to Boeing.” Deal said the changes are part of the company’s “enhanced focus on ensuring that every airplane we deliver meets or exceeds all quality and safety requirements …Our customers demand, and deserve, nothing less.”

The Alaska Airlines incident prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to temporarily ground off all Boeing 737 Max 9 airplanes operating in the U.S. and subsequently increase oversight over Boeing aircraft production. Prior to that incident, two Max 8 passenger jets crashed as a result of problems with a flight stabilization feature on the aircraft, killing a total of 346 people. Boeing 737 Max airplanes were subsequently grounded worldwide from March 2019 to November 2020. Airlines worldwide have been operating Max 9s, the version of the 737 Max that succeeded the Max 8, without a major incident since it entered service in 2018. However, the FAA suspended all Boeing Max production expansion in the wake of the January incident.

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The Biden administration announced on Wednesday that it is canceling $1.2 billion in student debt for about 153,000 borrowers who took out relatively modest student loans and have been repaying it for the last decade or more, and who were eligible under the Saving on a Valuable Education Plan (SAVE).

The SAVE program provides relief for people who have been making payments for more than 10 years on loans of $12,000 or less. According to a fact sheet from the White House, a borrower can qualify for the forgiveness if they’re enrolled in the SAVE repayment plan and “have been making at least 10 years of payments, and have originally taken out $12,000 or less for college.” It also said that “for every $1,000 borrowed above $12,000, a borrower can receive forgiveness after an additional year of payments.”

Borrowers will receive an email from President Joe Biden informing them their debts have been forgiven, with a message saying, “I hope this relief gives you a little more breathing room. I’ve heard from countless people who have told me that relieving the burden of their student loan debt will allow them to support themselves and their families, buy their first home, start a small business, and move forward with life plans they’ve put on hold.”

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said: “With today’s announcement, we are once again sending a clear message to borrowers who had low balances: If you’ve been paying for a decade, you’ve done your part, you deserve relief … These are historic efforts that reflect the president’s commitment, again, to deliver as much relief as possible to as many borrowers as possible as quickly as possible. Bottom line is this: We’re providing real, immediate breathing room on an unacceptable reality where student loan payments compete with basic needs, like putting food on the table and accessing health care.”

The Education Department said that 7.5 million student loan borrowers have signed up for the SAVE plan and it will continue to process members as they meet the loan length and payment requirements. It added that borrowers eligible for forgiveness under the SAVE plan will automatically have their loans discharged without any action on their part moving forward.

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