Today’s key stories about Boeing are retrospective on how problems arose, analytical in how Spirit’s A320neo cancellations will impact Boeing, a new focus on 777 freighters without engines, and multiple stories on maintenance issues and incidents that at normal times may be minor stories gaining front page status. Add to that the ever-present question from reporters whether Boeing planes are safe – this time from Japan – and the anti-Boeing sentiment appears to now be well entrenched in the press as more information becomes public.
Links to today’s stories follow:
- How Boeing got like this – KUOW
- Fatal recklessness at Boeing traces back to long-standing C-Suite greed – The Nation
- Spirit Airlines defers Airbus A320s – why that is bad news for Boeing – Forbes
- Boeing’s 777 ‘gliders” signal more cash woes – BNN
- Flydubai flight forced to turn back after Boeing 737 MAX ‘technical issue’ – In UAE
- Boeing hit with another safety issue as engine cover comes loose at 10,000 ft – Business Plus
- Southwest Boeing 737-800 flight loses engine cover, prompting regulator to investigate – CBC
- Industry expert shares thoughts on whether troubled Boeing jets are safe to fly – NTD
Commentary regarding Boeing’s ability to quickly turn the company around is also changing in the press, recognizing that the Boeing cultural problems run deep and that the underlying issues stem from the 1997 merger with McDonnell-Douglas over a two decade period of propping up Boeing’s stock price at the expense of innovation. Employee relations and conditions on the assembly lines have been described by whistleblowers as difficult, at best, and Boeing’s cultural change needs to start with new leadership. The facts that Boeing is indeed a broken company are now clearly public, warts and all, for everyone to see. But what took two decades to break down can’t take two decades to rebuild if Boeing is going to survive against Airbus.
The Bottom Line
With the troubles at Boeing now impacting the 777F freighter and cash flow from aircraft not being delivered, Boeing could face a cash crisis later this year. While the company has liquidity available and credit lines that can be drawn on, those are not infinite, and delays to the MAX 10, MAX 7, 777X and continued quality scrutiny lowering production of the 737 MAX 8 and MAX 9, along with the 787 Dreamliner, the problems have popped up across the entire product line. David Calhoun is not going to solve the problems that his successor will need to face. That successor can’t come soon enough.
