Why would following the lead of the single organization that has the most authority in this area an issue?
They’ve made it clear they have their own auditors stepping in to assess Boeing’s processes, which doesn’t signal “lost”, and most of the public would see that comment about the FAA as a good thing I’d think.
In what way does this shift the responsibility, specifically?
The responsibility here is clearly still on Boeing. But when it comes to public communication, no one trusts Boeing right now, so it makes sense to highlight the involvement of a governing body that is not Boeing.
I realize there are major issues with the FAA/Boeing dynamic right now, but if the Alaska Airlines CEO instead said “We’re following Boeing’s lead in this matter”, I don’t think that would be an improvement.
They’ve made it clear they have their own auditors stepping in to assess Boeing’s processes, which doesn’t signal “lost”, and most of the public would see that comment about the FAA as a good thing I’d think.