Will Boeing Ever Recover From the 737 Max Debacle?
First the company needs to get the planes back in the air. Then it needs to convince passengers that they’re safe to fly.
After two fatal 737 Max crashes, airlines have some persuading to do.
Photographer: Kelsey McClellan for Bloomberg Businessweek
After grounding their Boeing 737 Max fleets for most of 2019, airlines expect to resume flying the once-hot-selling plane in early 2020. While that’s good news for carriers that have ordered almost 5,000 of the fuel-sipping jetliners, a big question remains: Will travelers be nervous about flying an airplane involved in two highly publicized fatal crashes?
Airlines with the 737 Max must convince many customers that the aircraft has been appropriately modified, tested, and certified safe. A monthly survey by UBS of 1,000 people in the U.S. finds that among those who plan to fly, about 15% say they’ll never travel on a Max. The same survey, however, finds that around 65% say they never or seldom check the type of aircraft they’re flying on.