Despite two deadly crashes in five months the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Boeing insisted on the airworthiness of the 737 Max. It wasn’t until the rest of the world grounded the plane that the US finally conceded.
Airplane manufacturers and airlines commonly base their decisions on passenger safety versus the companies’ economic interests. RT talked to analysts to look deeper into the issue and understand why it took the US so long to make the right decision.
Boeing is America’s most important exporter by value, so the company’s current problems are set to hit the US really hard, according to Alessandro Bruno, independent international affairs and aerospace industry analyst.
“Moreover, China, which is the second biggest market for Boeing outside the US, may use the current situation as leverage in trade talks with the White House,” the expert told RT.
The FAA was practically forced to ground the troubled jet after US President Donald Trump “surprisingly turned out to be the only adult in the room,” when he insisted on halting the use of the 737 Max 8 jet, according to Bruno.
“Boeing should have acted responsibly and pulled those planes out. Now they have to pay a lot more to fix the problem. They have to pay for the design and technical changes, which means several billions of dollars,” he said.
The decision was made under international pressure, as most of the world’s regulators had chosen to ground the jet, according to Pyotr Pushkarev, chief analyst at online broker with TeleTrade Group.
