Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun told a staff meeting Tuesday the planemaker would need to work to earn confidence of airlines and ensure they understand "every Boeing plane in the sky is safe," two people familiar with the comments said.

Calhoun paid tribute to the Alaska Airlines crew for their handling of a 737 MAX 9 blowout, praised the airline leadership for quickly grounding similar planes and said the FAA would take measures to ensure "this event can never happen again."

Boeing had no immediate comment.