The crash of a Boeing 787 passenger jet in India minutes after takeoff on Thursday is putting the spotlight back on a beleaguered manufacturer, although it was not immediately clear why the plane crashed.
The Air India 787 went down in the northwestern city of Ahmedabad, India, with more than 240 people aboard shortly after takeoff, authorities said.
It was the first fatal crash since the plane, also known as the Dreamliner, went into service in 2011, according to the Aviation Safety Network database.
Photo: REUTERS
The Boeing Co shares fell more than 4 percent in afternoon trading.
The 787 was the first airliner to make extensive use of lithium ion batteries, which are lighter, recharge faster and hold more energy than other types of batteries. In 2013 the 787 fleet was temporarily grounded because of overheating of its lithium-ion batteries, which in some cases sparked fires.
The Max version of Boeing’s best-selling 737 airplane has been the source of persistent troubles for Boeing after two of the jets crashed. The crashes, one in Indonesia in 2018 and another in Ethiopia in 2019, killed 346 altogether.
The problem stemmed from a sensor providing faulty readings that pushed the nose down, leaving pilots unable to regain control. After the second crash, Max jets were grounded worldwide until the company redesigned the system.
Last month, the US Department of Justice reached a deal to allow Boeing to avoid criminal prosecution for allegedly misleading US regulators about the Max before the two crashes.
Worries about the plane flared up again after a door plug blew off a Max operated by Alaska Airlines, leading regulators to cap Boeing’s production at 38 jets per month.
Boeing posted a loss of US$11.8 billion last year, bringing its total losses since 2019 to more than US$35 billion.
The company’s financial problems were compounded by a strike by machinists who assemble the airplanes plane at its factories in Renton and Everett, Washington, which halted production at those facilities and hampered Boeing’s delivery capability.
For the first three months of this year, Boeing reported a narrower loss of US$31 million compared with the previous year. Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said Boeing made progress on stabilizing operations during the quarter.
The extra scrutiny and the workers’ strike resulted in Boeing’s aircraft deliveries sliding last year.
Boeing said it supplied 348 jetliners last year, which was one-third fewer than the 528 that it reported for the previous year.
The company delivered less than half the number of commercial aircraft to customers than its main rival Airbus SE, which reported delivering 766 commercial jets in 2023.
Still, Boeing’s troubles have not turned off airline customers from buying its jets. Last month, the firm secured big orders from two Middle Eastern customers. The deals included a US$96 billion order for 787 and 777X jets from Qatar Airways Co, which it said was the biggest order for 787s and wide body jets in the company’s history.
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