DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – One of Boeing’s biggest customers has issued a call to action to its new management team, voicing frustration over the safety crisis facing the U.S. planemaker and the ensuing delays in order deliveries.
Chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said: “We are not satisfied with what is happening and we have been very keen to see this aircraft enter the fleet when it was committed, but There were delays and it wasn’t just our problem.
Emirates has ordered 245 passenger aircraft and five 778 freighters, making it Boeing’s largest wide-body aircraft customer. But the manufacturer’s aircraft deliveries fell in the first quarter of 2024 to the lowest numbers since mid-2021 as the company faces tighter restrictions after a door jam on one of its 737 Max 9 planes exploded in mid-air in January. Review.
Emirates Boeing 777-31H(ER) takes off from Los Angeles International Airport on January 13, 2021.
Aaron Pu/Bauer-Griffin | GC Images | Getty Images
The company delivered 83 aircraft, mostly narrow-body 737s, in the three months ended March 31, compared with 157 aircraft in the previous quarter and 130 aircraft in the same period last year.
Al Maktoum heads the world’s largest long-haul airline, which he helped found in 1985. Echoes.
“I think they have to put a lot of pressure on them to make sure they deliver everything they promise to their customers,” he said.
Asked if he had anything to say to the plane maker, Al Maktoum said: “I always say, you know, get your act together and do it. I think they can do it.”
CNBC has reached out to Boeing for comment.
The chairman stopped short of saying Emirates would cancel Boeing orders or transfer them to its French rival, airbus.
Asked about the possibility of such a move, he responded: “No, no, I can’t say exactly what our plans are.” “But I think you’ll see that we are refurbishing a significant number of aircraft in our existing fleet. …and there will be no shortage of capacity in Dubai.”
He said the airline’s expansion of some of its existing fleet, including its massive double-decker Airbus A380 aircraft, would help provide sufficient passenger capacity.
During the investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in Portland, Oregon, USA saw that the Boeing 737-9 MAX of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 was forced to make an emergency landing, with a gap in the fuselage and the fuselage plug area on January 7, 2024. day.
U.S. National Transportation Safety Board | via Reuters
Boeing’s recently appointed new management team is now tasked with dealing with the company’s worst crisis since 2018-2019, during which two of its new 737 Max jets crashed within six months, killing 346 people.
Following the Alaska Airlines gate explosion in January, FAA six-week audit The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in March that Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems had “identified multiple instances of alleged failures by both companies to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements.” Spirit AeroSystems produces Boeing Max fuselage
“The FAA identified noncompliance issues with Boeing’s manufacturing process controls, parts handling and storage, and product controls,” the statement read. The regulator said it notified Boeing leadership that “the findings of the audit must be communicated as part of its comprehensive corrective action plan to address systemic quality control issues” and address its “safety culture.”
In a statement previously cited by CNBC, a Boeing spokesperson said in response to the FAA’s findings that the company would continue to “immediately implement changes and develop a comprehensive action plan to enhance safety and quality.”
The company’s website states that it will continue to support the US NTSB and FAA investigations into the January 5 accident.
—CNBC Leslie Josephs contributed to this report.
About The Author
