By Dan Catchpole

LYNNWOOD, Washington, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Boeing BA.N has seen huge quality improvements in its commercial airplane supply chain over the last two years, an executive at the planemaker said on Wednesday.

Boeing spends 40% fewer hours fixing problems from its supply chain now compared to 2024, Ihssane Mounir, Boeing senior vice president for global supply chain and fabrication, told the Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance (PNAA) supplier conference outside Seattle.

Defects from Spirit AeroSystems, which makes 737 fuselages and structures on other Boeing airplanes, have fallen by 60% since Boeing enhanced quality control inspections there in 2024, he said.

Spirit was the maker and installer of a 737 MAX door plug that blew out midair on an Alaska Airlines flight in early 2024, leading the Federal Aviation Administration to impose production caps on Boeing.

Boeing bought back Wichita, Kansas-based Spirit in December, giving it greater control over its supply chain. The supplier was created in 2005 when Boeing sold off parts of its aerostructures production business to investors.

Spirit "coming back into family was probably the best thing that's happened in my career," Mounir said.

Quality defects at Spirit and other suppliers hobbled Boeing's efforts to resume jetliner production after the COVID-19 pandemic.

(Reporting by Dan Catchpole; Editing by Jamie Freed)

((dan.catchpole@thomsonreuters.com; 651-231-1623))