Salehpour, who has worked at Boeing for more than a decade, said he had identified an issue with gaps between key sections of the 787 Dreamliner that has affected “more than 1,000” jets in service, warning it would “likely to cause premature fatigue failure over time in two major airplane joints”.

In written testimony, Salehpour said that he contacted Richard Blumenthal, a US senator, “because I genuinely believe that the safety problems I have observed at Boeing, if not addressed, could result in a catastrophic failure of a commercial airplane that would lead to the loss of hundreds of lives”.

Separately, as the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigates January’s cabin blowout, Pierson noted the watchdog had “reiterated to Congress that Boeing has said there are no records” documenting work associated with the removal of a door from the jet before the incident, which forced the emergency landing of an Alaska Airlines flight.

“In my opinion this is a criminal cover-up,” Pierson said “Records do exist documenting in detail the hectic work done on the Alaska Airlines airplane and Boeing’s corporate leaders know it too ...

In a statement, the NTSB said it has not received documents detailing work on the Alaska jet’s door plug “from Boeing or any other entity”, urging anyone with relevant information to contact its investigators.

After scrambling to reassure regulators, airlines and passengers in the wake of January’s blowout, Dave Calhoun, Boeing’s chief executive, and Larry Kellner, chairman of its board, announced plans to resign last month.

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