Flight International – 11 June 2019

ightglobal.com 11-17 June 2019 | Flight International | 31

PARIS

737 Max

Also last year, Boeing won a contract worth

up to $2.4 billion to supply as many as 84

MH-139 helicopters to the USAF, and an $805

million deal to build four MQ-25A unmanned

refuelling aircraft for the US Navy.

Boeing’s 2018 revenue from defence, space

and security-related sales jumped 13% year-

on-year, to $23.2 billion.

Meanwhile, Boeing has aggressively ex-

panded its aircraft services work, which it has

shifted into a dedicated business unit called

Global Services. In 2016 chief executive Den-

nis Muilenburg said the restructuring put

Boeing on course to generate $50 billion in

annual service revenue within a decade.

Boeing remains far from that goal, although

its services business has expanded rapidly,

thanks partly to acquisitions of companies

like flight software provider ForeFlight and

parts provider KLX. Boeing has also formed a

joint auxiliary power unit business with Sa-

fran called Initium Aerospace and a joint air-

craft seating business with Adient Aerospace.

Those acquisitions helped push Boeing’s

2018 Global Services revenue to $17 billion,

up 17% in one year.

But no amount of positive news can clear

the shadow cast by the 737 Max. The aircraft,

owing to Boeing’s 4,620 unfilled orders,

represents a massive chunk of the company’s

future revenue.

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

Boeing executives will undoubtedly face ques-

tions at Paris about the 737 Max and its trou-

bled Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmenta-

tion System (MCAS), although answers may be

few due to ongoing investigations.

The company has answered few questions

since the first crash, of a Lion Air 737 Max 8

in October 2018. It has also received pointed

criticism for its design of MCAS – implicated

in both crashes – and for not initially telling

pilots the system existed. The US Federal

Aviation Administration has also been criti-

cised over its certification of the aircraft.

During a brief press conference in late

April, Muilenburg expressed contrition but

defended Boeing’s designs while conceding

that MCAS could be made better. He also in-

sisted pilots can counter MCAS easily with a

memorised checklist – a point many pilots

themselves confirm.

Now Boeing has completed a software up-

date and will make MCAS rely on two sensors

• faulty single-sensor inputs may have led to
  the extreme nose-down responses that pre-
  ceded the two crashes. When or if regulators
  approve the fix remains unknown.
  Meanwhile, whether Boeing plans any
  major commercial aircraft announcements at
  Paris also remains uncertain, although any or-
  ders would surely provide a needed boost.
  New orders for the 737 Max understandably
  screeched to a halt following the Ethiopian
  crash, and in April Boeing slashed its order
  book by 196 737s, due partly to the collapse of
  India’s Jet Airways.
  Boeing’s order activity has been slow for
  other models, too, and it landed no new com-
  mercial aircraft orders in April. The 787 re-
  mains a hit, with 584 aircraft in the backlog,
  but demand has been moderate for the in-
  development 777X, which will soon become
  Elaine Thompson/AP/Shutterstockthe company’s flagship. ❯❯

mired in aviation, approach this year’s Paris
air show?
“There are fundamentally two lines of
thinking,” says Michel Merluzeau, director at
aerospace research and consulting company
AIR. “One is to carry on with lower-profile,
subdued messages.” That approach would
show respect for the two 737 Max tragedies,
and indeed that has been Boeing’s approach
since the second crash – the Ethiopian Air-
lines disaster in March.
Alternatively, Boeing could begin shifting
the conversation to positive aspects of its
business, such as service industries growth
and military sales success, Merluzeau says.
The company’s military division does
have much to celebrate, at least outside qual-
ity concerns that are hampering the KC-46A
tanker programme. Boeing won several huge
military contracts in 2018, including a $9.7
billion deal to supply the US Air Force
(USAF) with 351 T-X jet trainers and related
equipment. Production of the single-engined
type could eventually balloon to some 1,000
aircraft, observers say.

“The highest priority for us is

the 737 Max’s safe return to

service. We have prioritised

our resources accordingly as

we continue to work on our

NMA effort in parallel”

Dennis Muilenburg

Chief executive, Boeing