- An airline president took a shot at Boeing as the planemaker faces a new crisis over the 737 Max.
- Tim Clark, president of Emirates, said Boeing has had quality control issues “for a long time now.”
- 171 Boeing 737 Max 9 jets remain grounded pending inspections.
In the wake of another plane model being grounded indefinitely, the president of one of the world’s largest airlines isn’t mincing words about jet maker Boeing.
“They’ve had quality control problems for a long time now, and this is just another manifestation of that,” Tim Clark, president of Emirates, told Bloomberg. His comments come just days after part of a Boeing 737 Max operated by Alaska Airlines separated in-flight from its fuselage, forcing an emergency landing. “I think they’re getting their act together now, but this doesn’t help.”
The Max, a more efficient version of Boeing’s famous 737 airliner, first made headlines after two deadly crashes forced its grounding worldwide in 2019. After changes to its computer software, the jet was cleared to fly again in 2020. Today, the plane represents a massive portion of Boeing’s order book, with thousands in its backlog.
The FAA has ordered 171 Max 9s inspected in a process that could take four to eight hours per plane. So far, United has found loose bolts on several.
Boeing has also faced difficulties with its 777 plane engines from one specific supplier, plus delivery delays on its 787 Dreamliner and in its Defense division.
Emirates does not operate the 737 but does fly about 130 of the longer-range 777 aircraft, with hundreds more on order.
Still, with no injuries caused by the incident, Clark remains optimistic that the whole thing is both “solvable” and “salvageable,” he told Bloomberg.
Of course, that will all depend on the root cause of the issue.
“When it comes to the safety of our products and services, every decision and every action matters,” Boeing’s CEO said in a statement Sunday.
“And when serious accidents like this occur, it is critical for us to work transparently with our customers and regulators to understand and address the causes of the event and to ensure they don’t happen again.”
