Boeing HQ
This has been a quiet start to 2025 for Boeing, a positive contrast with a turbulent 2024 that began with the January 5th door plug blowout. The stories this week primarily consist of outlooks for the coming year, a key new hire, comments from regulators, and continuing whistleblowers.
One long-term ex Boeing employee spoke about the impact of outsourcing, which he believes impacted quality and safety. His narrative is interesting and spoke to how communication channels and international outsourcing led to quality issues.
Boeing hired a new Chief Information and Digital Officer, appointing Dana Deasy to that post. He brings a strong track record from the Department of Defense, JP MorganChase, BP, and General Motors during his career.
Not all news was positive. Department of Transportation Chief Pete Buttigieg said that the cultural turnaround at Boeing was a ’‘work in process” in what the FAA Administrator indicated was a multi-year process. The question of how strong regulatory controls will be under the Trump 2.0 administration and the degree to which regulatory oversight will increase are some issues on which industry analysts have conflicting viewpoints.
The impact of aircraft constraints has hit multiple airlines hard, particularly Southwest and Ryanair, who are the two largest 737 customers and fly only that type. Southwest has lost ground in its recovery, and has now sold and leased back 36 aircraft to generate cash and manage its fleet plans that have left it with no MAX 7s to replace 737-700s that are the right sized aircraft for much of its network.
Similarly, a story on how Airbus and Boeing constraints are impacting the expansion plans of airlines in India indicate that the impacts of supply chain and safety issues are global in scope.
AirInsight added to the discussion with some evidence that the recovery at Boeing has started, but is moving at a very slow pace.
Finally, forecasts for 2025 continue, with one pundit suggesting that 2025 will be a “bumpy year” for the industry, and another stating that Boeing shareholders can’t bank on a GE style windfall.
Links to this week’s news follow. Some links were behind paywalls but available free elsewhere, hence the dual sourcing.
- I worked at Boeing for over 30 years. I witnessed the fallout of outsourcing firsthand – Business Insider via Postgoo
- Boeing appoints Deasy as Chief Information Officer – Vertical
- Boeing culture turnaround a ‘work in progress,’ Buttigieg says – Mint
- Southwest Airlines cashes in on sale and leaseback of 36 aircraft – Benzinga
- Airbus, Boeing global supply crisis to halt Indian airlines’ expansion plans? – Financial Express
- MAX progress at Boeing – slow, but there is progress – AirInsight
- Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a ‘bumpy year’ for the aviation industry, insiders say – NECN
- Boeing investors can’t bank on a GE-Style windfall – Thomas Black – Bloomberg via Advisor Perspectives
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