Boeing has become an easy target for critics who question the safety of the airplanes it produces. This phase of the story starts in 2018 with the 737 MAX tragedy. Investigations showed Boeing’s missteps along the plane’s development that contributed to the crashes.
Even once the 737 MAX was cleared to fly again, Boeing needed to show the plane was safe to overcome people’s fears about flying on them. Search tools were developed to help people avoid flying on a 737 MAX.
However, over time, as the aviation industry implemented stricter safety regulations and the aircraft underwent numerous modifications and enhancements, the fears of flying on a 737 MAX faded away. Many airlines added the plane to their fleets, and passengers seemed to forget about the incidents or weren’t willing to change travel plans to avoid the plane type.
Reminding People About Boeing’s Problems
That was, until January when a door plug on a 737-9 MAX Alaska Airlines plane came off as the plane was climbing. Inspections of the 737-9 MAX planes in operation by Alaska and United, the two US airlines that have the planes in their fleets, found many problems. United says that several jets have bolts on the door plugs that need additional tightening. Alaska said that it found “some loose hardware” on its MAX 9s.
The news stories about Boeing and systemic problems, starting at the highest levels down to the engineering and production lines, have made people leery about flying on any Boeing airplane. Some have even started using apps designed to help them avoid Boeing flights again.
Capt. Sully calls out Boeing
But you know you’re in PR trouble when C.B. “Sully” Sullenberger, Captain of Flight 1549 ‘the Miracle on the Hudson, says that Boeing has “lost their way.”
But Capt. Sully isn’t going to avoid Boeing flights. His reasoning is that so many things do go right every day. He has trust in the people who are flying the planes, and even if something does go wrong, they’ll rise to the occasion and get us to our destination safely.
One big takeaway from his interview is that Boeing’s problems are not going away overnight. People in charge of the manufacturing and engineering juggernaut need to restore safety as the number one priority.
Changes at Boeing
Boeing CEO David Calhoun will step down at the end of the year, but the consensus is that won’t fix the problem. Emirates president Tim Clark echoed the feelings of many who were asked about Boeing by CNBC.
“To fix Boeing’s issues the company needs a strong engineering lead as its head coupled to a governance model which prioritizes safety and quality,” he told CNBC.
Others are questioning the timing of the departure.
“Announcing a change nine months in advance is useful from a succession-planning perspective but does not signal any perceived need for urgency,” said Jo-Ellen Pozner, associate professor of management and entrepreneurship at Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business. “If Boeing understood the problems the market perceives with its current leadership, it would have named an external successor with significant manufacturing and operations experience.”
Final Thought
The issues at Boeing aren’t different than those felt by other corporations. However, there are a few differences that make their problems unique. Making an airplane isn’t the same as making a washing machine. The risks are much greater and that’s why safety needs to be prioritized more than in other businesses.
In addition, no other company can come in and pick up the slack if Boeing drops off. Airbus is the only other large passenger aircraft manufacturer in the world, and it’s also at maximum capacity. Boeing has to be fixed.
In the short term, the company will be under intense scrutiny by regulators because it has shown an inability to police itself. It will be a while, if ever, before people trust them again.
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