On January 5, a door plug was expelled from the plane mid-flight, resulting in an emergency landing. Although nobody was severely injured, the FAA ordered a shutdown. (The FAA is a federal government agency that regulates aviation in the US.) On January 8, multiple airlines discovered loose parts in Boeing planes, and a shareholder lawsuit revealed that a quality control inspector found  the Kansas Boeing plant had excessive defects. On January 12, the FAA stated that it would begin to audit Boeing production. On January 24, the FAA allowed Boeing’s 737 MAX 9 to fly again, but all of this has shaken many flyers, leading airlines to offer ways for customers to change planes.

That’s just January. On February 6, a preliminary report from the NTSB stated 4 critical bolts were missing on the door that had blown off during the January 5 flight. (The NTSB is an independent government agency that investigates civil transportation accidents.) On February 21, the head of the 737 MAX program left Boeing, and on February 28, the FAA gave Boeing 90 days to make a plan that requires them to address quality control issues to meet the FAA’s security standards. Later, on March 4, a 6 week FAA audit revealed that the FAA found multiple occasions where Boeing failed to meet quality control requirements. On March 9, a Boeing whistleblower is found dead from a “self-inflicted bullet wound,” an  incredibly convenient situation for Boeing.

Now, I don’t mean to assume anything. There is a chance that Barnett had been suffering from mental health issues. In fact, Boeing may have caused these issues, with a 2017 lawsuit Barnett filed revealing that he was “subjected to a gaslighting campaign in which he was harassed, denigrated, humiliated, and treated with scorn by and contempt by upper management,”. This is extremely, extremely convenient for Boeing. What, a past quality control worker who had been consistently engaging in legal action between Boeing after retiring just happened to kill himself during an important class-action lawsuit? Especially with information that he had been repeatedly threatened by upper-management, is it really above such a big corporation like Boeing, who has so much to lose, to harm such an important witness? Barnett did not appear to have any intention in stopping his fight with Boeing anytime soon. Of course, this is all speculation. Condolences to his family. Unfortunately, even if it wasn’t suicide, Boeing likely won’t be found guilty of anything anytime soon.

It’s obvious that Boeing has been facing quality problems for a while now. How exactly did Boeing get here? It’s not like quality control problems have plagued Boeing since the company was created. There’s multiple possible reasons. From how I see it, it seems like the merger with McDonnel-Douglass is one of the biggest culprits.

After the merger, Boeing’s work culture clashed with MD’s. Before the merger, upper management at Boeing included engineers. This led to MD’s “bean-counters” (people that make financial decisions, especially those aimed to reduce spending) and Boeing’s engineers to clash, and MD’s work culture won the battle. So, Boeing strayed from genuine aircraft innovation to a company devoted to keeping costs down and profits high at the expense of quality. Before the merger, Boeing’s management included engineers that were required to test run their planes before putting them out to the public. Of course the planes were made as safe as possible, the engineers/managers didn’t want to risk their own lives!

So in the end, it was the development towards profit and value focused company culture that led to all the accidents involving the company’s planes. It’s ironic actually, how hyper focusing on shareholder value and profits is what led to the company actually losing value. Since the January 5 incident to today, March 23rd, Boeing’s stock value has decreased 24 percent. Airbus, a European aircraft manufacturer and major competitor of Boeing are seeing their stock value rise by 20% in direct comparison.

Is Boeing seriously screwed now? Will 2024 really mark the end of Boeing’s dominance in commercial aircraft manufacturing? I don’t believe it will. That isn’t to say that Boeing isn’t, in my opinion, in serious danger. Even after the 2018 and 2019 accidents people still didn’t really pay attention to what aircraft they were flying in. Now though, it seems like people are starting to be more attentive. What I think will likely happen is that Airbus and other competitors will receive a little step up from all the controversy, but Boeing will continue being the main choice of airlines. However, if more and more people start refusing to fly Boeing, that would also lead airlines to use Boeing planes less, which will devalue the company even more. There’s even a chance that Boeing continues to shortcut their way through the manufacturing process to offset the financial hits of the current scandals. In the end, if Boeing wants to recover the reputation they had in the past, there needs to be changes in upper management and work culture. The company needs to be alright with losing shareholder value and revenue if they want to regain consumer trust. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like that will happen anytime soon or ever.