Aerospace giant Boeing has had big problems to overcome since the crashes of two of its 737 Max aircraft. Its situation was compounded this year with another safety scare and a strike losing it billions of dollars. It has a new CEO who has pledged to return the company to its engineering roots and away from cost cutting and in October, Boeing managed to raise 21bn US dollars by issuing new shares in the company. However, catching up on lost production will take time and money and financially the company is nowhere near out of the weeds. Can Boeing regain the trust of regulators, airlines and passengers? Contributors: Richard Aboulafia, AeroDynamic Advisory, a US aerospace consultancy Sharon Turlep, an aviation industry reporter at the Wall Street Journal Christine Negroni, an aviation journalist specialising in safety Scott Hamilton, aviation analyst Presented by David Baker. Produced by Bob Howard. Researched by Matt Toulson. Edited by Tara McDermott. Mixed by David Crackles.
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Welcome to the Inquiry with me, David Baker.
Each week, one question, four expert witnesses, and an answer.
Think back to the last time you got on an aeroplane.
Did you notice who made it?
Probably not, unless you're one of those passengers who studies the safety card in the seat pocket.
But chances are the plane you were on was made by either Boeing or Airbus.
Between them, these two huge companies, one based in the us, the other in Europe, dominate the commercial aviation industry, producing nearly 90% of the new planes that are in our skies.
Airbus is on a roll with airlines around the world snapping up their planes.
But Boeing has been having a difficult few years.
Its new version of the classic Boeing 737, the 737 Max, suffered two catastrophic crashes in 2018 and 2019.
And earlier this year, as we all saw on the news, a door plug blew out of a 737 Max flying over Portland, Oregon in the US resulting in the plane decompressing and forcing an emergency landing.
Add to that a strike that the company has faced in some of its biggest manufacturing plants and a serious problem with cash flow, and things are not looking great for the aviation giant.
So this week on the inquiry, we're asking, can Boeing turn itself around?
Part 1 Boeing's rise to Glory when you look at what goes into developing a new aircraft, it's not hard to see why the sector is dominated by just two companies.
First, there's the time it takes.
It's basically anywhere from 7 to 10 years to develop an airplane into service.