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from the management-induced-flight-into-terrain dept.
Boeing customers canceled a staggering number of 737 Max orders last month, deepening the crisis the company faces amid the coronavirus pandemic and the continued grounding of its bestselling plane after two fatal crashes.
The Chicago-based manufacturer on Tuesday posted 150 cancellations of its beleaguered 737 Max jets in March, the most in decades, the company said. Brazilian airline Gol canceled 34 of the narrow-body planes and leasing firm Avolon scrapped orders for 75 of them, a move it announced earlier this month. Net cancellations in the month totaled 119 thanks to 31 orders for wide-body passenger planes and military aircraft.
That brought net orders Boeing removed from its order list in [the]first three months of the year to 307 planes, a sharp turnaround for a company that just over a year ago was aiming to increase output of its planes to meet strong demand.
[...] Boeing's airline customers are now facing the steepest drop in demand ever recorded because of Covid-19 and harsh measures like stay-at-home orders to slow its spread. The pandemic comes on top of the more than year-long grounding of the 737 Max after 346 people were killed in two crashes.
Alternate source: Yahoo finance
<no-sarcasm>
I wonder. If the 737 MAX had not been grounded, would those orders have been cancelled, despite the Covid-19 downturn in airline flights.
</no-sarcasm>
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 15 2020, @02:16AM (1 child)
In general, any corporation that takes bailout money should be partially or completely nationalized until the money is paid back. The terms should be so bad that they literally use it as a last resort before layoffs or declaring bankruptcy.
In the case of Boeing, it's even more egregious as they've been spending loads of cash on stock buybacks rather than saving for a rainy day, on top of the gross incompetence that led to those plans being grounded due to fatal accidents.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday April 15 2020, @04:07AM
The term is correct here, but let us be sure it is applied correctly. Somehow, in my mind, the term seems to apply to the engineers and workmen who actually build the plane. But, that is probably just me.
The real incompetence applies to the bean counters and management. The engineers designed the aircraft that management told them to design. Management over ruled some engineering decisions, in an attempt to save money. New training procedures for pilots were suggested somewhere along the way, and again, management over ruled any new (expensive) training procedures.
I think it safe to say that the aircraft was somewhat less safe and reliable than it's immediate predecessor, if left to the engineers, builders, etc. Somewhat. If the men and women on the line had been left alone to produce this plane, it probably would have flown for decades without serious problems. It may have become an expensive maintenance headach, but it probably would have flown.
Every unsafe condition here, can be traced back to bean counters and management. Truly incompetent SOB's. Redundant sensors, and pilot training are really all that were needed to fly this new aircraft safely.