It’s quite a moment when the world’s leading supplier of commercial airliners is told that its latest jet is fit only to be repurposed into baked bean cans. But that ignominy was unleashed on Boeing executives this week by the president of Emirates, the world’s fourth-largest airline.
Sir Tim Clark gave his withering assessment on Boeing’s new 777X wide-bodied jets, while also refusing to accept the ten that his airline had ordered as long ago as 2013.
Boeing has viewed the jet as the successor to the original 777, pledging it would “maximise efficiency and environmental performance while providing an exceptional experience”. But Clark told reporters at the Farnborough Air Show: “We’re not taking that batch, and that’s it.”
“What they do with them is up to them,” he added, before suggesting that “Heinz would be interested” in turning the jets into repositories for food.
Emirates’ frustration towards the 777X is rooted in the years that Boeing has spent modifying and correcting the plane’s design. Clark said he had first set foot inside an early, fully configured version in 2019, but claimed the numerous design changes since had rendered the earliest batch to roll off the production line outdated and impractical.
For Boeing, this year’s Farnborough show represented Ground Zero in the company’s efforts to prove it has successfully turned its ailing commercial jet operation around. It’s fair to say it didn’t all go as planned.
Dogged by the grounding of the 737 MAX in March 2019, following two crashes that killed 346 people and revealed fatal flaws in the jet’s software package, the company has struggled to fill order books, while also trying to overcome a series of whistleblower complaints alleging a variety of defects on various commercial aviation production lines.
Investigators at the crash site of Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 on 12 March, 2019, in Bishoftu, Ethiopia. All 157 passengers and crew died after the 737 Max 8 came down six minutes after taking off (Photo: Jemal Countess/Getty Images)While Emirates’ rejection of the 777X will have come as a crushing disappointment, a Reuters tally of new orders placed at Farnborough suggested that Boeing still held a slight lead over its European rival Airbus.
Carriers from Saudi Arabia, the Philippines and Uganda joined corporate clients in ordering at least 169 new Boeing jets. The company’s top executives say it proves their turnaround strategy is beginning to bear fruit.
“We’re turning the corner,” Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said. “We’ve got more work to do. But I’m pleased with the progress so far.”
But as the 777X experience shows, this will require more than exuding public confidence and engaging in sheer force of will.
Many of Boeing’s customers are still fuming at the company’s failure to deliver finished planes on time. The company’s total number of unfulfilled orders for commercial jets now stands at 6,814, which, at current rates of production, would take a decade to fulfil.
At Farnborough, Ortberg acknowledged the scale of the mountain his company still has to climb. It is currently building 47 Boeing 737s every month and wants that number to rise to 63. The larger 787 Dreamliner is rolling off production lines at a rate of only eight per month, though the company’s target is 10 by the end of the year.
A Boeing 777X airliner undergoing fatigue testing at the Boeing Everett Factory in Washington (Photo: John Biers/AFP via Getty Images)“We still have to ramp up higher,” Ortberg told Bloomberg TV. “The market is strong. It’s all about delivering more airplanes.”
Last week, the US Federal Aviation Administration provided Boeing with the green light to resume issuing airworthiness certificates for all 737 MAX and 787 planes, after months of data and safety reviews. In-house processes now require production-line workers to follow instructions that are easier to understand, while mechanics on the 737 production line are required to gain lower-level hands-on experience with the aircraft type first.
Industry analyst Richard Aboulafia has said that “after years of horrific mismanagement, the company is run by a respected aerospace professional”. Just three years ago, Aboulafia was one of several leading analysts arguing the company was plagued by an “abdication of leadership”.
At Boeing, plans are slowly being drawn up for a “next generation” commercial jet that will see the company take on Airbus for dominance in the narrow-body sector. But it could take until 2040 for the company’s new single-aisle plane to be designed and manufactured, with Ortberg saying this week that “customers are telling us ‘Let’s focus on the existing product’”.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has proved to be one of Boeing’s most successful sales reps, after facilitating a Chinese order of 200 commercial jets during his summit with Xi Jinping in May.
But even that deal, worth up to $19bn, is reportedly running into difficulty amid Chinese demands for long-term guarantees over parts, maintenance and servicing. One source told Politico this month that the deal is now at risk of “falling apart”.
Boeing’s next big test comes on Tuesday, with the publication of its quarterly earnings report.
“The verdict is very much in on Boeing, and the verdict is favourable,” said Aboulafia, describing Ortberg as “an adult in the room”.
But with oil prices soaring and supply chains stretched to breaking point, Boeing’s recovery relies on stability and predictability, as well as an improvement in its public image.
Emirates’ Clark might not have been entirely serious about the baked bean cans, but the last thing Boeing should do right now is think that its recovery is guaranteed.
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