The entire aviation market has changed, but no one really understands what it will continue to evolve into since the pandemic is far from over. For the moment, commercial aviation is at almost a virtual standstill. Boeing has a backlog of orders, with a ramp full of undelivered new airplanes, and a global parking lot of barely used 737 MAX’s.
Boeing is seeing a small but undoubtedly growing erosion of the new airplane production backlog as airlines re-access their present economic position. How many airlines want a new 737 MAX today or even within the next 12 months? How many airlines have the cash flow to pay for those airplanes already built but not yet delivered? I would surmise that a lot of those 400+ Max’s already built but yet to be delivered will be sitting longer as homes for those airplanes shrivel up. MCAS issues are far from over. Covid-19 has displaced that focus.
As a result, manufacturing and/or production issues, quality control problems, regulatory hurdles, and employee safety are all on the back burner compared to the basic, raw, economics of company survival for the next year. Since Boeing has evolved into a company primarily led by the accountants, those execs are being reshuffled, bureaucracy downsized, with financial power more centralized and concentrated to a comparatively select few.
Is Boeing the 21st century Titanic? Covid-19 seems to be the iceberg that is ripping large holes in the hulls of many companies “too big to fail” or considered “unsinkable”. I personally believe “Boeing Dave” ( Recent new CEO David Calhoun) will be soon making his public appearances, including carefully orchestrated photo ops released as behind the scenes negotiations with government officials are leaked to the news media. This will set new precedence’s and condition the public of those new precedence’s whose present focus is also economic survival. Lots of economic deals are and will be made that never would have been publicly considered prior to Covid-19. Most of those, in my opinion, will be made behind closed doors. The deals will be done. And then the tax-payer will be notified of the bill to be paid.
In my mind, Boeing is setting the table showing the company direction, priorities, intentions, and management placement to facilitate those goals. Is it the proverbial re-arrangement of the deck chairs on a company “too big to fail” or “unsinkable”? Time will tell.
Holdeman Aero 