Ten months after the Boeing 737 Max was grounded, it seems it’s not getting back into the air soon
The American plane-maker Boeing’s tremendous confidence in the ability of its latest jet, the 737 Max, even after two dramatic fatal accidents in Ethiopia and Indonesia killed close to 400 people, was worth watching. The Max was grounded worldwide in March but Boeing kept churning them out at a rate touching 42 a month. This has led to over 400 aircraft sitting around Boeing’s factories at Seattle, unable to fly anywhere. Boeing’s confidence in its jet and almost bombastic optimism that it would be soon cleared to fly is not matched by the US aviation regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which has been embarrassed by a rash of stories of how it had been infiltrated by Boeing employees, who led their inspectors up the garden path and essentially gave certification to a plane that had some fundamental issues. The issues are so fundamental that it now appears the Boeing 737 Max may not actually be recertified to fly, that, too, only in the US initially before February 2020, and possibly even March. It is no surprise, therefore, that Boeing has finally decided to wind down production of the aircraft.
In many other industries, a product failure like this would have been fatal to the company. Thankfully Boeing operates in a comfortable duopoly with European manufacturer Airbus, which despite opportunities, has not stuck the dagger into it. The relationship between Airbus and Boeing then is akin to that between Coca-Cola and Pepsi, not really a rivalry, no matter what the advertising says. Ergo, Boeing will survive the worst of this crisis in all likelihood, even though it might take a year or so to get back to its feet. Thankfully, for the global aviation industry, a few fortuitous airline collapses, including the demise of Jet Airways in India, have meant that at least for the time being there are enough aircraft available to pick up the slack of demand. That said, airlines will be wanting aircraft soon enough and Boeing will have to get its act together to resolve the problems on the Max. Crucially, the manufacturer will also need to fix the trust deficit that it suffers regarding the Max with ordinary airline passengers. The crisis also highlights severe flaws in the aircraft certification process. All in all, aviation is safer today than it has ever been. That does not mean that we take things for granted. Boeing did in case of the 737 Max and will pay a massive price but hopefully, 2020 will be a better year than 2019 was for global aviation.