It’s hard to think of a company that has had a more disturbing start to 2024 than Boeing.
On Jan. 5, the emergency exit door of a 737 MAX 9 jet operated by Alaska Airlines flew off the fuselage of the plane and exposed the passengers to dangerous winds. And on Saturday, a nose wheel on a 757 jet operated by Delta Air Lines came off right before the plane was set to take off from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
In the same period, an oxygen leak on a Boeing plane forced Secretary of State Antony Blinken to secure another plane for his trip back home from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the cockpit window of a Boeing 737 in Japan cracked, and a Boeing cargo plane caught on fire midflight and was forced to make an emergency landing in Miami.
For those counting at home, that’s five serious incidents with Boeing planes that have occurred in less than three weeks. And while, thankfully, no one was killed in any of them, Boeing is not doing anything to instill confidence in the integrity of its airplanes, which transport thousands of people on a daily basis.
The company’s failures are being felt in its stock value, too. Since Jan. 5, when its stock stood at $249, the company’s stock share value has dropped by a whopping $36 to $213 on Wednesday.
Boeing’s negligent assembly process is sleepwalking the aircraft manufacturer toward a major airline disaster that would likely cost hundreds of lives. The two incidents provide more evidence of the company’s pattern of manufacturing failures that led to a series of fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 and to the entire 737 MAX fleet being grounded for two years.
The company’s January 2024 track record provides enough evidence to terrify someone from flying aboard a Boeing plane for the foreseeable future.
This emerging pattern of manufacturing defects requires immediate answers and accountability, both for the safety of airline passengers and for the integrity of Boeing as a company. One of the largest aircraft manufacturers in the world cannot avoid questions related to the safety of its products when lives are at stake.
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun is reportedly meeting with senators on Wednesday to discuss the recent aircraft failures, but while this is a good first step, an open and transparent hearing needs to take place to restore the confidence of travelers that they will make it to their final destinations when they step aboard a Boeing aircraft.
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Furthermore, the various airlines that operate Boeing planes need to state what steps they are taking to address Boeing’s failures and ensure their customers are boarding airplanes that are safe to fly.
Until then, avoiding airline travel is a perfectly reasonable decision to make.