Boeing HQ
Today’s key stories focus on the potential sale of Boeing’s rocket launch firm, Boeing’s new CEO hoping to ‘reset’ relations with the company’s biggest union, and the continuing saga of the Starliner debacle.
In an exclusive report, Reuters reported that Boeing and its partner Lockheed Martin are in talks to sell United Launch Alliance, their joint venture firm, to Sierra Space. This would make sense for Boeing if the company was also planning to divest the Starliner program, which uses ULA for its launches. But given the lack of success to date, that doesn’t seem a likely possibility in the near term. Boeing would likely need to pay commercial prices for Starliner launches in a post-ULA environment.
On the labor front, Boeing’s new CEO wants to ‘reset’ the relationship with the company’s biggest union. Labor relations have been contentions at Boeing for years, and given that many of the whistleblowers were union employees but generally ignored by management, there’s a long way to go to repair relationships. Plus, a strike threat for later this year would place Boeing in further financial difficulties unless an agreement can be reach, which will likely be expensive.
The Trump campaign had its second mechanical issue in less than a week, as the “Trump force 2” airplane carrying VP candidate Vance was forced to make an emergency landing. This comes after news last week that Donald Trump is now flying the former Gulfstream of the late Jeffrey Epstein while his aircraft is undergoing maintenance. Of course, the press highlighted the fact that the aircraft were made by Boeing.
India is expecting an increasing relationship with Boeing, including the potential for research and development work. The company is also looking at potentially expanding its supply chain further into India, and expand its Boeing services operations on the subcontinent. Boeing sees the growth in the Indian market, and has fallen behind Airbus locally, and hopes investing in India helps it regain market share.
Finally, an article talks about the three key questions regarding the Starliner situation, and when and how the astronauts can return from the International Space Station. The Starliner has become a PR debacle for Boeing, as every day in space is another delay for the crew’s return. With a strong probability of a return via SpaceX next February, Boeing failure will continue to lead the news cycles. We wonder whether the astronauts have any input regarding the decision of how to return them to Earth, and what their private thoughts might be.
Links to today’s key stories follow:
- Exclusive- Boeing, Lockheed Martin in talks to sell rocket-launch firm to Sierra Space – Reuters
- Boeing’s new CEO wants to ‘reset’ relations with biggest union – BNN Bloomberg
- Trump campaign suffers second plane mechanical issue in a week – Daily Caller
- Boeing’s turnaround flight may connect India for R&D – Economic Times
- 3 burning questions we all have about Boeing Starliner’s epic debacle – Inverse
