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FNew corporate disasters are so great that they can be seen from space. Boeing’s 737 Max made that cut, with satellite images showing row after row of undelivered planes, on the ground after two fatal crashes that killed 346 people.
Now the recovery will begin in earnest, with regulatory approval and the restart of commercial flights imminent. The US Federal Aviation Administration last month approved the 737 Max flight once again, and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (Easa), the second key global regulator, established Tuesday as the final deadline for problems or objections to be filed as well. gives the green light.
The clashes were a human disaster, leaving hundreds of families still in mourning and, in some cases, still angry. However, Boeing and the US regulator have expressed confidence that the plane is now safe, after unprecedented scrutiny. And there is little evidence from the history of aviation accidents to indicate that scruples prevent many passengers from flying.
However, the reintroduction of the 737 Max remains a watershed moment for Boeing in a crisis that has cost it more than $ 20bn (£ 14.7bn) and a chief executive officer. At a time when the pandemic has caused the biggest drop in commercial air travel ever, Boeing can’t afford more trouble with its best-selling jet.
The twin crises have forced Boeing to make drastic job cuts, and 30,000 of the 160,000 workers are expected to be laid off by the end of next year, but it is spending millions to try to avoid further setbacks. It plans to hire 160 well-paid instructors to help pilots with the new systems and to provide 24/7 live monitoring of flights.
The first paying passengers on the recertified 737 Max in the US (Brazilian airline Gol operated the first commercial flight on December 9) will take off on December 29 from Miami airport to LaGuardia in New York. American Airlines will run one return flight a day on that route through January 4, before gradually bringing in more.
In Europe, the first flights will take place sometime in the new year, unless there is a radical change in Easa. In the UK and Ireland, the first beneficiaries will be Ryanair. The Irish budget carrier has 210 737 Max jets on order, after adding another 75 this month.
Michael O’Leary, the CEO of Ryanair, got lyrical this month about his new “fabulous” planes. It’s safe to assume that the fickle businessman used chooser words in private when negotiating what industry experts believe will have been a rock-bottom price for the latest order (at list prices, the deal would be worth $ 9 billion or £ 6.7 billion). Similar exchanges were likely heard when Willie Walsh, O’Leary’s former training partner and then head of British Airways owner IAG, signed a letter of intent to order 200 aircraft in July 2019, shortly after the 737 Max was released. grounded for the first time.
Whether IAG confirms the order is an open question: Boeing’s biggest problem now is less getting its existing jets flying again, but rather persuading pandemic-hit airlines to pay them enough to get new jets. Profits.
However, the timing of the pandemic is also a strange accident of fortune for Boeing: While it has lost a lot of ground during what is arguably its greatest crisis, rivals led by Europe’s aerospace champion Airbus have not had a clear path to accelerate. later.
