Todd Bishop
The US Congress will hold a hearing on the Boeing 737Max event on the 29th, and the group CEO Dennis Muilenburg will be present to testify. It is expected to reaffirm Boeing’s responsibility for the earlier two 737Max crashes. After the 737Max was grounded by the global air traffic control agency at the beginning of the year, in addition to the “memorandum of understanding” from the British Airways, the number of the “Memorandum of Understanding” was not changed. Instead, there were no new orders. Instead, the 737Max was released from the United States. No time, let alone the global situation. Boeing is now softening his attitude, and I’m afraid it’s just to save his life.
According to the plan, Milenberg will attend the Senate Business Committee hearing on the 29th and attend the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee meeting on the 30th. In the statement disclosed in advance, Milenberger mentioned: “We made some mistakes and caused accidents, but we are fixing mistakes.” He also mentioned “We promise to learn from the incident, we have made changes and Will continue to change.” Perhaps in the eyes of many people, Milenberg’s apology is still not sincere, but it is no doubt that he is willing to say “sadness” and “sadness” in March this year.
Anxious to go around 737MAX
Perhaps the most important reason for Boeing’s decline is the eagerness to achieve the “going back to 737-max before the end of the year” commitment. Mirenberg said on the 13th of this month that he plans to make the 737 Max aircraft go around the end of the year. But a 2016 Boeing employee exchange newsletter was also revealed. Mark Forkner, Boeing’s chief tester, mentioned that “the MCAS system is not working properly in a simulated aircraft.” The MCAS system is the culprit in the two crashes.
Five days later, on October 18, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which is responsible for air traffic control, issued a statement disappointing that Boeing did not mention the relevant news, and said that it would “completely review the commercialization of the 737MAX in accordance with the procedures. Without any timetable, Boeing’s share price also fell 6.79% on the same day. Although the European and Chinese air traffic control agencies have agreed to “decouple” from the FAA, they will still refer to the FAA’s decision. The 737MAX’s FAA approval for a go-around in the United States is still the first step in its dilemma. Therefore, “finding” the FAA is very important to Milenberg, and the low-key performance in the hearing can also reduce the pressure on the FAA in Congress and achieve a go-around as soon as possible.
Milenberg is eager to go around for his own reasons. China International Airlines, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines’ “Big Air” and its subsidiaries have filed claims against Boeing; similar requests from major 737MAX customers such as Norwegian Airlines, Turkish Airlines and Dubai Airlines. In the United States, although no airlines have publicly requested compensation for grounding, the Southwest Airlines Union, which has a maximum of 737MAX, has decided to sue Boeing for compensation for indirect revenue losses caused by grounding.
Affected by the incident, the number of 737MAX deliveries this year is less than one-fifth of that in 2018, which has disrupted the deployment of many airlines. If the “stopping order” is nowhere in sight, the relevant compensation will be as large as snowballing. Reputation will be hit hard.
House seemingly endless rain
In addition to the direct impact of the grounding, the Boeing 737MAX sales also recorded negative growth last year. Indonesian Lion Air, Indonesian National Airlines and the rental company from Russia have cancelled 75 orders directly, and most airlines still decide whether to withdraw according to the final investigation results. At the Paris Air Show in June this year, Boeing did not have any orders on the first day until the British airline parent company International Aviation Group (IAG) announced the purchase intention of 200 737MAXs the next night, which made Boeing save face; as for the intention The implementation has not been as follows.
Before this year, the Boeing 737MAX was the main product of the Boeing single-aisle passenger aircraft, accounting for two-thirds of the company’s total annual orders, and contributed more than one-third of the profits. Since the Ethiopian air crash in March, the US Standard & Poor’s 500 index has risen by more than 10%. Boeing’s involvement in the US military industry has also been well-received. However, Boeing’s share price has continued to fall by 20% against the trend, and its outlook has been “negative” by many rating agencies. It can be seen that the 737MAX event is deeply hurt.
Boeing and Airbus, as the two oligarchs in the civil aviation industry, have always been fiercely competitive. In terms of wide-body passenger aircraft, Boeing’s “Peer-to-Peer” 777 aircraft has an advantage in the A380 competition with Airbus’s “Pivot Route”; both in the middle of the aircraft, Boeing 787 and Airbus A330neo Also chess opponents. The only suspense is the 150-180 narrow-body airliner market. After this battle, Boeing has no chance of winning. In addition, the China Commercial Aircraft C919 passenger aircraft is expected to enter the market within a few years, and will also steal Boeing in China and developing countries. The resources Boeing used to invest in the next generation of passenger aircraft are bound to be stretched.
In order to end the decline as soon as possible, Milenberger even tens of thousands of unwilling to confess. But when I knew this, why bother?
