 |
| Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenberg was strategic in his picks for the company's board of directors, such as by naming former UN ambassador Nikki Haley (pictured November 2018) - AFP/File |
New York (AFP) - The grounding of the 737 MAX for more than four months after two deadly accidents has tarnished Boeing's reputation, but it still has the confidence of US policymakers.
This is
despite the fact that one of the MAX flight systems, the MCAS, has been cited
in both accidents.
Is this an
indication that the American aerospace giant is too big to fail?
President
Donald Trump, whose mantra is "America first," certainly criticized
Boeing early in his administration over the presidential plane, Air Force One,
but he has been largely silent about the recent woes.
The wave of
negative press about the flaws that caused the deaths of 346 people did not
prompt legislators to summon Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg before Congress to
inflict on him the kind of humiliation Wall Street bankers were subject to
following the global financial crisis.
"Boeing
is one of the engines of the US economy, it's way too big and too important for
the United States," said Michel Merluzeau, an expert at Air Insight
Research.
Political
ties
If American
politicians were to attack the manufacturer, they would be shooting themselves
in the foot, Merluzeau said, because "there are many jobs involved, a
very, very numerous supply chain and it cannot be replaced with Facebook or
Google that don't produce anything tangible."
Founded 103
years ago, Boeing employs more than 150,000 people around the world, the vast
majority in the United States.
In addition
to direct jobs, its subcontractors -- like General Electric (GE), United
Technologies and Spirit Aerosystems -- are large US industrial employers.
The
location of Boeing plants resembles a political campaign map, with facilities
in Republican strongholds like Alabama, South Carolina and Texas, and
Democratic areas like California and Washington, as well as states that helped
Trump win the election: Pennsylvania and Arizona.
And
Muilenburg has shown political savvy in his picks for the company's board of
directors, naming Nikki Haley, former governor of South Carolina and Trump's
former ambassador to the United Nations, and Caroline Kennedy, ally of former
president Barack Obama and daughter of former president John F. Kennedy.
Air Force
One
Boeing is a
dominant player not just in civilian aircraft but in the defense and space
industries, and is a major supplier to the Pentagon.
The company
produced the famous B-17 and B-29 bombers of World War II and the B-52 used the
Vietnam War. Today it produces a variety of aircraft including the F/A-18 Super
Hornet fighter jet, Apache attack helicopters, the B-1 bomber and combat
drones.
It also is
part of SpaceX, which will manage travel to the International Space Station.
And Boeing
manufactures the presidential plane, the iconic Air Force One.
But Boeing
also "can be used as a strategic tool," said Arthur Wheaton, a
professor at Cornell University in New York.
Chinese
purchases of Boeing aircraft are part of trade negotiations with Beijing,
according to a source, since that can be a fast way to reduce the US trade
deficit.
US civilian
aircraft exports fell 12 percent to $20.4 billion in May, due to the MAX
crisis, which affected the GDP, according to government data.
No comments:
Post a Comment