Continued safety concerns at Boeing have led to a loss of confidence and placed the aircraft maker in what the President of Emirates has called the “last chance saloon.”
Crisis Of Confidence: Emirates Boss Says Boeing Has No More Room For Error
Referring to its customers in response to the latest Boeing 737 MAX embarrassment, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun recently said:
“We understand why they are angry, and we will work to earn their confidence.”
But that assurance is not good enough for every customer.
Emirates president Sir Tim Clark is not only a respected titan of the airline industry, but a huge Boeing customer. Last November, Emirates placed an order for 95 Boeing 777 and 787 jets Clark told BBC:
“They have got to instill this safety culture which is second to none. They’ve got to get their manufacturing processes under review so there are no corners cut…I’m sure Dave Calhoun and Stan Deal are on that… this is the last chance saloon.”
(Stan Deal is CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes)
Per Wikipedia:
“Last Chance Saloon was a popular name of a type of bar in the United States that began to appear in the 19th century as an early expression of border economics. Saloons situated near areas where alcohol was not easily obtainable frequently took the name as a literal indication to customers that this was their final opportunity to imbibe before progressing to an area where obtaining, selling or drinking alcoholic drinks was prohibited.”
But rather than simply trust Boeing to make the needed reforms in terms of quality control and its culture of safety, Emirates is going one step further. For the first time, Clark will send Emirates engineers to monitor Boeing’s production lines. Emirates engineers will observe not only the production process of the 777 at Boeing, but also at Spirit AeroSystems, which is a primary supplier to Boeing.
Airbus cannot possibly accommodate all demand, leaving Boeing in a position of muted strength. But if Boeing does not get its act together, its reputation will not recover and its ability to win competitive orders in the long term will decline. If I were at Boeing, I would take Clark’s warning very seriously…
It is sad to see the current situation at Boeing. Stock price is down 50% in the last 5 years. Airbus is up 45% in the same period.
@Santastico … too many airlines , too many passengers , too much scrambling for profit , too many fees , too many carry-on bags ; not enough quality control , not enough common sense , not enough virtue .
I simply do not understand how we have not yet seen multiple firings at Boeing and BCA including the President of the Company.
They’re probably looking for a few sacrificial lambs to put the blame on. Probably a few mid-level people.
@Aaron … +1 .
So when does Boeing sell it’s commercial avaition division to Airbus?
The timing of this is very fortunate for COMAC [and possibly other Chinese aircraft manufacturers] who should be able to start scaling up in the next few years. If they manage to come up with a viable widebody, Boeing might end up losing relevance and market share, leaving Airbus as the sole ‘premium’ manufacturer and ending up having to battle for the leftovers with the Chinese, Embraer and any other small players.
Boeing is definitely losing people’s trust, but is COMAC somehow more trustworthy? I don’t think so. China can’t even convince the West to buy their cars. As for planes, I think it’ll take a lot more to break up the duopoly… though for industry innovation that’s probably a shame.
@Jerry … +1 .
I don’t know how you define ‘the West’, but the trend in the global car market is obvious- have a look at the graph below. *
Winning a couple of hundred orders from Latin America, Central and SE Asia, and the MENA region would make them a major global player even if they didn’t get any buyers in Europe or the USA. And if the comical Sukhoi Superjet was good enough for the biggest airline group in Europe (they grabbed a few for SN and flew them until they got fed up with their parts availability), I can’t see why they wouldn’t consider COMAC.
* https://www.reuters.com/graphics/BRV-BRV/byvrrqnmqve/chart.png
@PM in Thailand. Philippines etc, Geely, GWN, NIO are just as commonplace as Toyotas and Hyundais. There’s some Fords in those markets but you won’t see a whole lot of American brands (and those Fords aren’t even actual American cars). I’m sure those markets can eventually accept a Chinese-brand narrowbody if the Americans keep f’ing up
what the hell are you talking about lmao Geely isn’t even that popular here in the Philippines you can see like 3-5 of them in a city at most, and GWN? NIO? trust me nobody’s heard of those cars, and Ford is 3rd after Toyota and Honda here.
It looks like we have the same definition of “the West.” SSJ was a totally minor player and it flopped. MEX had a graveyard of them. Chinese cars are great for Thailand, Brazil, and Egypt. They’re lower in cost and drivers in these markets don’t have high expectations for bells, whistles, and safety features. The same thing can’t be said about airplanes. You can fly whatever you want domestically, but not internationally as some airlines learned with the MA-60.
Do you know how Chinese automakers sell cars in Brazil? They load those POS cars with all sorts of electronics and gadgets that no other Brazilian car manufacturer offers so Brazilians love that stuff. Problem is when it comes to safety and resale value. Both are abysmal. You bought it, you are married for life.
South Africa too:
https://liveandletsfly.com/haval-jolion-south-africa/
Just to be clear, I’m not claiming that anyone outside China currently has a huge amount of confidence in COMAC. I’m saying that they are likely to be gaining customer trust at the same time as Boeing are losing theirs and that may result in a chart that looks like the car export one.
@PM … I wouldn’t buy even a single chopstick from them .
@Alert, sadly it’s nearly impossible nowadays.l, I am making an effort to avoid their products but in many cases there aren’t too many alternatives.
Sure, you’ll probably see a meaningful number of orders for COMAC aircraft from SE Asia/Latin America at some point. That confidence will last until the inevitable quality failures with the planes, which will ultimately doom them in the same manner as the SSJ.
I think that the Chinese are well capable of manufacturing high quality stuff, and COMAC will be able to take advantage of the very slow scaling up of C919 production in order to address any teething problems and gain confidence with airlines and the travelling public.
Sad.
With all their quality issues, think the 777x will even get off the ground? And that’s not even counting the cancelled (?) NMA/757 replacement… Boeing will eventually end up like General Motors (if they’re not already there); still having lots of customers, supported by the government, but ultimately a joke in the industry.
Boeing has major quality issues in both their commercial and space divisions. With their only current focus on maximizing short term profits the only division where they are safe is the military where congress people are more then willing to pay Boeing extra to cover their mistakes.
So basically we are at this point because some Ham & Egger forgot to put 4 bolts back in after a repair. An overpaid clown in a jumpsuit just looking to finish his day and head out for an Olympia beer with his buddies to forget his home life cost the company tens of billions.
That may be an oversimplified explanation of what happened but without the door blowout none of this increased attention would be on Boeing. The stock was up over $265 and climbing. They don’t need a scapegoat, they already found him.