NEW YORK – The grounding of the 737 MAX for more than four months after 2 deadly accidents has tarnished Boeing’s reputation, but it still has the confidence of US policymakers.
This is despite the fact that one of the MAX flight systems, the MCAS, has been cited in both accidents.
Is this an indication that the American aerospace giant is too big to fail?
President Donald Trump, whose mantra is “America first,” criticized Boeing early in his administration over the presidential plane Air Force One.
The wave of negative press about the flaws that caused the deaths of 346 people did not prompt legislators to summon Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg before US Congress.
“Boeing is one of the engines of the US economy, it’s way too big and too important for the United States,” said Michel Merluzeau, an expert at Air Insight Research.
If American politicians were to attack the manufacturer, they would be shooting themselves in the foot, Merluzeau said, because “there are many jobs involved, a very, very numerous supply chain and it cannot be replaced with Facebook or Google that don’t produce anything tangible.”
Founded 103 years ago, Boeing employs more than 150,000 people around the world.
In addition to direct jobs, its subcontractors – like General Electric (GE), United Technologies and Spirit Aerosystems – are large US industrial employers.
Boeing is a dominant player not just in civilian aircraft but in the defense and space industries, and is a major supplier to the Pentagon.
The company produced the famous B-17 and B-29 bombers of World War II and the B-52 used in the Vietnam War. Today it produces a variety of aircraft including the F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet, Apache attack helicopters, the B-1 bomber and combat drones.
It also is part of SpaceX, which will manage travel to the International Space Station.
And Boeing manufactures the presidential plane, the iconic Air Force One. (Agence France-Presse)
