Boeing is in trouble: A fatal culture of negligence
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Boeing is in trouble. When American Airlines tells you to “get your act together”, it is not a good sign. A series of events have created somewhat of a media frenzy for the company, headlined by a bizarre video on the infamous Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 on January 5th wherein a door flew off the aircraft shortly after takeoff from Portland, Oregon. Thankfully, there were no casualties, and the video was mostly taken as a joke due to the calm demeanour of the passengers on board despite a gaping hole in the plane.
It seems like the comedy ends there because the airline industry is understandably angry. The aircraft on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 had only been in service for a mere 8 weeks before the incident happened. To make matters worse, the head of Alaska Airlines explained in a statement that “many” bolts were loose in Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes. As a result, an investigation has been opened and all models of this specific aircraft have been grounded by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). However, this is not a new problem. The 737 MAX has been Boeing’s problem child for a while now.
A Boeing 737 MAX 8 crashed in Indonesia in 2018, then in Ethiopia in 2019. Both crashes killed all passengers on board. During this time, a slew of executives exited and entered Boeing amidst the controversies. In 2020, they had to halt all Boeing 737 production due to the crashes - a first in almost 20 years. Later that year, a report about the aforementioned fatal crashes stated that Boeing had a culture of negligence when it came to maintenance, and that the FAA’s checks were not comprehensive. Only two months after the report in September 2020, the Boeing Max 737 was given the green light to fly again in the US, with the EU following suit in January 2021. Unfortunately, the problems ramped up again in 2023, and in April and August, Boeing recognised quality issues with supplies.
Following these developments, the fact that Boeing, alongside Airbus, remains one of the two leading manufacturers of commercial aircrafts has created a general lack of trust, as many feel that Boeing should be held accountable for these issues - more than just fiscally. For the average consumer, the thought that a plane has loose nuts and bolts is petrifying. Moreover, the consequences, as proven by Boeing, can be devastating. As Boeing and Airbus have cornered the commercial aircraft market, airlines are pushing Boeing to be better because there are practically no alternatives to the two companies, leaving the market dependent on them.
In the aftermath of Flight 1282, United Airlines is forecasted to incur around 100-300 million dollar losses in the coming months. Since these airlines already have orders from Boeing, it is a matter of supply delay. This is a particularly complicated issue because the aerospace industry is still reeling from the effects of COVID-19. Due to a delayed backlog of aircraft deliveries, airlines have to rely on older aircrafts, driving maintenance costs up.
Employees have also reported a toxic workplace culture that values a maximum amount of output, wherein employees have to work overtime amongst a generally disagreeable atmosphere between managers and employees. This can be linked back to the Boeing and McDonnell Douglas merger which reportedly created a rift between engineers and new management in 1997, especially when it came to cutting costs.
Amidst all of this, Boeing has pledged to do better, promising more stringent quality control amongst FAA’s parallel calls for more checks. Following FAA inspections, Boeing MAX 737 9 aircrafts were recently re-authorised to fly with a production expansion ban. All that is left to do is see whether their promises are fulfilled. What is clear though, is that Boeing’s alleged irresponsibility has had a quantifiable human cost, and these incidents must never occur again. Nothing justifies the loss of human life.