Can Boeing save its reputation after another MAX incident?

“For an aircraft manufacturer, these incidents are fatal in terms of damaging its reputation.”

‘Clowns supervised by monkeys’

Pushed out to compete with the Airbus A320neo family, the MAX line stemmed from a Boeing decision to update the 50-year-old 737 design rather than create a new plane from the ground up, saving time and money. Unfortunately, its first delivery of a MAX 8 in 2017 came just a year and a half before the first crash of a MAX 8, Lion Air flight 610 in October 2018 – which was followed after just a few short months by a second crash, Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 in March 2019. The two incidents – which were found to have been caused by faults in the MAX 8’s Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), with flawed sensor information repeatedly forcing the planes’ noses down – grounded the MAX worldwide for 20 months. Boeing was charged with fraud and fined $2.5 billion, with internal emails from Boeing pilots uncovered during the investigations describing the plane as being “designed by clowns, who in turn are supervised by monkeys”.

While MAX deliveries eventually resumed, they have been sluggish, with Virgin Australia only receiving its first long-delayed MAX 8 last year. It is still one of only two Australian airlines to use the MAX family (the other being Bonza), with Qantas Group – a long-time 737 customer, with 75 737-800s in its Qantas fleet – opting to jump ship to the A320neo and A220 lines instead. Though it seemed for a while like the situation might be turning around, Boeing’s problems with the MAX family compounded when, this January, 171 planes in the MAX 9 fleet were grounded after a door plug blew off Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 in mid-air. While the NTSB investigation is still ongoing at the time of writing, preliminary reports indicate that four key bolts were missing from the door plug, which had been removed to repair rivets damaged during production at notorious Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems.

Meanwhile, the smallest variant, the MAX 7, and the largest, the MAX 10, still have not received FAA approval – an issue for the MAX 10 in particular, which has a large backlog of orders including from Virgin Australia.

Winning back trust

What can be done to right the ship? According to Professor Zhang, the MAX debacle has created both short-term and long-term problems for Boeing. “In the short term, Boeing needs to address the trust crises from both aircraft operators and [travelling] public,” she says. “We know that it takes time to establish and nurture the brand but it takes a blink to destroy the brand. It would also affect its market value as reflected in the financial market. In the long term, Boeing needs to review its market positioning and determine its strategic goals and objectives. It needs to ensure it takes product quality and safe operation as a priority. Boeing might continue losing market share compared with its rivals. Unless it acts, its market share will continue to fall.”

While the company has more than a century of history manufacturing both passenger and cargo aircraft for carriers around the world, Professor Zhang warns that this goodwill is not infinite. “[Boeing] has a legacy of having successfully weathered through the ups and downs and still takes almost half of the market share in the major commercial aircraft market,” she says. “The 737 series is one of the most popular aircraft, loved by airlines and travellers. The 747, although it is phasing out of the market, revolutionised global air travel, making long-haul more accessible and affordable. However, this does not mean that Boeing can sit on its complacency. Technological advancement is unprecedented, competition is fiercer, the geopolitical landscape is more dynamic, and the global air travel market is changing.”

Ultimately, Professor Zhang says Boeing needs to reflect on its vision and “make a hard decision” on its strategic goals and priorities, and decide what its fundamental objective is: profits, cost-cutting, or engineering excellence.

“Getting the balance right is challenging, but it is time for Boeing to have a pause, reflect, make a choice and then take action.”