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The Boeing Company which recently celebrated its centenary is facing one of the greatest threats to its reputation in the wake of two fatal crashes of the workhorse 737 MAX, the world’s best selling passenger jetliner.
In the jetliner era, the United States Federal Aviation Administration has grounded the entire fleet of an aircraft three times. In 1979, McDonnell Douglas DC-10 following the fatal crash in Chicago. In 2013 the Boeing 787 Dreamliner following a spate of battery fires onboard the aircraft, and last the Boeing 737 MAX 8 and 9 following two fatal crashes of the aircraft in less than five months. Coincidentally, the McDonnell Douglas company was acquired by Boeing in 1997.
In the wake of the second crash of a Boeing 737 MAX, the company’s Chairman, President and CEO, Dennis Muilenburg, has put out a personal statement assuring the aviation community at large, including airlines and passengers of the company’s focus on safety. He says a Boeing team “is on-site with investigators to support the investigation and provide technical expertise”. Based on information received in the Lion Air flight 610 crash five months ago, Boeing is “taking actions to fully ensure the safety of the 737 MAX”.
Message from Dennis Muilenburg
We know lives depend on the work we do, and our teams embrace that responsibility with a deep sense of commitment every day. Our purpose at Boeing is to bring family, friends and loved ones together with our commercial airplanes—safely. The tragic losses of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 and Lion Air Flight 610 affect us all, uniting people and nations in shared grief for all those in mourning. Our hearts are heavy, and we continue to extend our deepest sympathies to the loved ones of the passengers and crew on board.
Safety is at the core of who we are at Boeing, and ensuring safe and reliable travel on our airplanes is an enduring value and our absolute commitment to everyone. This overarching focus on safety spans and binds together our entire global aerospace industry and communities. We’re united with our airline customers, international regulators and government authorities in our efforts to support the most recent investigation, understand the facts of what happened and help prevent future tragedies. Based on facts from the Lion Air Flight 610 accident and emerging data as it becomes available from the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 accident, we’re taking actions to fully ensure the safety of the 737 MAX. We also understand and regret the challenges for our customers and the flying public caused by the fleet’s grounding.
Work is progressing thoroughly and rapidly to learn more about the Ethiopian Airlines accident and understand the information from the airplane’s cockpit voice and flight data recorders. Our team is on-site with investigators to support the investigation and provide technical expertise. The Ethiopia Accident Investigation Bureau will determine when and how it’s appropriate to release additional details.
Boeing has been in the business of aviation safety for more than 100 years, and we’ll continue providing the best products, training and support to our global airline customers and pilots. This is an ongoing and relentless commitment to make safe airplanes even safer. Soon we’ll release a software update and related pilot training for the 737 MAX that will address concerns discovered in the aftermath of the Lion Air Flight 610 accident. We’ve been working in full cooperation with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Transportation and the National Transportation Safety Board on all issues relating to both the Lion Air and the Ethiopian Airlines accidents since the Lion Air accident occurred in October last year.
Our entire team is devoted to the quality and safety of the aircraft we design, produce and support. I’ve dedicated my entire career to Boeing, working shoulder to shoulder with our amazing people and customers for more than three decades, and I personally share their deep sense of commitment. Recently, I spent time with our team members at our 737 production facility in Renton, Wash., and once again saw firsthand the pride our people feel in their work and the pain we’re all experiencing in light of these tragedies. The importance of our work demands the utmost integrity and excellence—that’s what I see in our team, and we’ll never rest in pursuit of it.
Our mission is to connect people and nations, protect freedom, explore our world and the vastness of space, and inspire the next generation of aerospace dreamers and doers—and we’ll fulfill that mission only by upholding and living our values. That’s what safety means to us. Together, we’ll keep working to earn and keep the trust people have placed in Boeing.
Dennis Muilenburg
Chairman, President and CEO
The Boeing Company
Video of Dennis Muilenburg’s message
