More Trouble for Boeing, as Online Travel Agency Sees Rise in Customers Filtering Out its Planes

Reports of a nose wheel falling off a Delta Air Lines Boeing 757 passenger plane that was lined up to take off from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport January 20 signals increasingly troubling times for the plane maker. The negative impression has spread to the public; the online travel company Kayak has added additional filters to its websites that allow customers to exclude flights that use Boeing 737 MAX jets from their searches.

According to The Guardian, Kayak said that following the Alaska Airlines incident it experienced a 15-fold increase in the use of its aircraft filter feature, which the company first launched in March 2019. The filter allows customers to distinguish between 737 Max 8 and Max 9 jets because the latter have been grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) following the midair blowout of a door in the passenger cabin January 5.

“Whether you’re searching by cabin class, flight quality or aircraft type, Kayak’s filters aim to provide travelers with all the information they need to make smart decisions and travel with confidence,” said a company spokesperson.

The filter update comes almost three weeks after an Alaska Airlines flight suffered a midair blowout, and a few days after the wheel incident, during which, according to a preliminary report from the FAA, the aircraft was lined up and waiting to take off when the nose wheel "came off and rolled down the hill.” 

Boeing declined to comment on the nose wheel incident.

Boeing CEO David Calhoun insisted January 24 that the organization only allows jets to fly when the company is “100%” confident in the aircraft’s safety," adding that Boeing understands “the gravity of the situation” and that he is prepared to meet with several U.S. senators regarding the FAA’s investigation into the company.

Boeing has also experienced repeated problems in design and production with its newest jumbo jet, the 787 Dreamliner. "Such frequent, repeated crises point to a deeper issue than isolated engineering mishaps," said Bill George, professor of management practice, and a Henry B. Arthur Fellow of Ethics at Harvard Business School, in a January 24 article in the Harvard Business Review. "The underlying cause of these issues is a leadership failure that has allowed cultural drift away from Boeing’s once-vaunted engineering quality." 

Boeing is still scheduled to deliver its first Max 737 jet to China January 24, ending an almost five-year freeze on imports of the company's most profitable product. According to Reuters, the delivery represents a vote of confidence for the company at a time when it is facing scrutiny from various industry bodies and government agencies. 

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• Source: https://www.supplychainbrain.com/articles/38926-online-travel-company-allowing-customers-to-filter-out-boeing-737-max-planes