What will it take for Boeing to recover?

WE OFTEN use the word “iconic” to describe companies such as Xerox, or US Steel, or General Electric when we really mean “no longer great”. And Boeing no longer is.

That company’s already-turbulent reputation suffered another jolt this month when a door plug – a fake door that replaces a real one in some airline configurations – on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 blew out at about 4,877 metres. The gaping hole in the fuselage terrified passengers, but the pilots calmly landed the aircraft. MAX 9s with that configuration were grounded temporarily, and the United States Congress demanded answers. Investigations have commenced into the 737 MAX 9, a fairly new jet freighted with Boeing’s penchant for producing flawed aircraft.

With flights already full, the system can ill-afford the grounding of 171 737 MAX 9s. Neither can Boeing, which is now paying the price for a shift in its corporate culture made decades ago.