Changes to Boeing’s safety culture will take years but the company has made helpful shifts in the short term, the administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration told lawmakers Tuesday.

In response to an FAA request, Boeing earlier this year provided the agency with a comprehensive action plan to address quality issues following the door-plug blowout on a Jan. 5 Alaska Airlines flight. But that plan doesn’t end the FAA’s increased oversight of Boeing and its suppliers, FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said at a House Transportation Subcommittee on Aviation panel.

“There must be a shift in the company’s safety culture to holistically address its systemic quality assurance and production issues,” Whitaker said during his prepared remarks. “Our goal is to make sure Boeing implements the necessary changes and has the right tools in place to sustain those changes in the long term.”

Boeing declined to comment on Whitaker’s and lawmakers’ remarks. The company is dealing with an ongoing work stoppage from 33,000 Machinists, whose strike began Sept. 13 after they voted down a tentative contract. Boeing substantially raised its contract offer Monday in an effort to end the strike. The aviation giant also faces an ongoing criminal probe, lawsuits and federal investigation related to the Alaska incident.

Whitaker said the FAA is following the strike, to which Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Everett, interjected “you’re not the only one.”

Boeing’s plan includes, in part, increased employee training and enhanced reporting systems that encourage workers to report concerns; decrease in “traveled work” so work happens in the correct sequence; and greater supplier oversight.  

Boeing has made progress on those short-term changes, like employee training and cutting down on the traveled work, “but the ultimate mission is very long-term,” Whitaker said.

“It’s going to take years of delivering that safety message and employees actually seeing that safety is more important than production before that culture can change,” he said.

Whitaker, less than a year into his new position, has said the FAA’s previous approach was too hands-off and in “reactive mode” rather than taking a proactive approach with inspections.        

The FAA is on track to reach its target of adding 55 inspectors to Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems facilities by the end of the year, according to Whitaker, who estimated the agency has thus far hired between 40 and 50 inspectors. These inspectors have on average 20 years’ experience in the industry, Whitaker added. Boeing and Spirit, a 737 supplier in Wichita, Kansas, opened the factories to inspectors in the immediate aftermath of the Alaska Airlines incident.

Whitaker was asked about the Department of Transportation’s delay in deciding which airlines and cities will get spots at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport outside Washington, D.C. Delta is vying for a daily nonstop flight between Seattle and Reagan airport, the closest commercial airport to the U.S. capitol, among other airlines and cities who want the coveted spot.

The DOT initially said it would have a decision by mid-July. Whitaker said he would take up the question with the department.

On Wednesday, Whitaker is scheduled to testify on the same topic in front of the Senate Homeland Security Investigations Subcommittee.