Today’s Boeing news focuses on comments from their CFO, who indicated the obvious – lower deliveries in 1Q24 will result in lower free cash flow – headlined a lot of business reporting.
The good news is that the head of the FAA indicated that no unsafe airplanes were coming out of Boeing, but that must be measured against the same message before the two fatal 737 MAX crashes and the recent door plug incident. The Spirit deal will likely split out work for Airbus in Belfast, which Airbus could acquire.
Then comes the Boeing bashing, with reports on Ryanair having to cut back planned growth, two Forbes columnists offering editorials about Boeing woes, and finally, a British tabloid bringing up an old crash of a 737-800. Perhaps the Daily Mail should focus on the Royal Family, its other obsession, instead of Boeing bashing.
Today’s interesting reads follow:
- Boeing predicts massive cash drain as January 5 accident takes toll – Bloomberg
- No unsafe airplanes coming out of Boeing, FAA head says – Forbes
- Boeing mulls shedding Airbus work in potential Spirit Aero deal – Zeebit
- Will Boeing’s woes prove another black swan event for the airlines? – Forbes
- Boeing’s in more trouble than you think – Forbes
- Exclusive- Ryanair’s O’Leary ups pressure on Boeing with meeting in Dublin: CNA
- Boeing crisis: Why is everybody freaking out – Politico
- Two years on, still no answer to why a China Eastern Boeing 737 crashed, killing all 132 people aboard – Daily Mail
- Good Boeing MAX news hiding in operational data – AirInsight
The Bottom Line
Judging by the media, Boeing has lost its advantage in the PR game, as the tone of the articles turned negative towards the company. We don’t foresee the FAA shutting down production, a black swan event, or O’Leary being any different than his usual self, as he has reasons to be unhappy.
We certainly don’t see merit in bringing up the anniversary of old crashes. Boeing does have serious problems. They also have employees who take their responsibilities very seriously. Boeing can and will get the job done, albeit 23 years after the merger, the culture will be complex to rebuild and take time. We have no problem criticizing or praising Boeing, such as when operational data for the MAX are excellent. Still, the media’s focus now seems to be misplaced in bashing Boeing at every opportunity.
Boeing needs to be more transparent about the positive changes to its safety system and how those will ensure that mistakes such as the missing bolts leading to the January 5th incident won’t happen again. Rather than waiting for all of the changes, it would be helpful for Boeing PR to highlight even the small changes that make a difference as they are implemented, building world-class production operations. The market is waiting for some good news from Boeing.
