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United Airlines CEO says the airline will consider alternatives to Boeing

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Re: United Airlines CEO says the airline will consider alternatives to Boeing

#122
The airline that stands to lose the most with the downfall of Boeing is actually Southwest - whose fleet is entirely composed of 737s. Not MAX's yet, but that was at least the plan before more of these problems were exposed. I can't imagine how nervous the C-suite at Southwest is feeling.

Also - I wonder if Boeing even has the capability to build a new commercial airliner from scratch. The 787 was insanely expensive and had its own problems (remember the burning batteries?).

Re: United Airlines CEO says the airline will consider alternatives to Boeing

#124
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Boeing decided they wanted to focus on maximizing profits > The shareholders/board decided to gut the company so they can get richer with stock buybacks Are you not saying the exact same thing, just being more explicit about the implicit "short-term" profits? The shareholders/board (e.g. Boeing...the decision makers) decided to gut the company so they can get richer (e.g. maximize [short-term] profits, since the pr…

I separate Boeing the business entity from the private capital that receives the cash.

The former is under the control of the latter.

Re: United Airlines CEO says the airline will consider alternatives to Boeing

#126
I think companies should be punished by the free market. Actions should have consequences. Yes, thousands of flights and millions of people travel on Boeing aircraft without problems, but that doesn't mean you should continue to support companies who are careless when there's an equally viable option available (given that Airbus is a competitor to Boeing, Airbus has an alternative for every type of plane in Boeing's fleet)

Re: United Airlines CEO says the airline will consider alternatives to Boeing

#127
post #5

Actions have consequences. Boeing decided they wanted to focus on maximizing profits rather than allowing organic growth to follow on continued high quality engineering and services. In regulated industries, especially where safety is of utmost importance, this is exceptionally risky. They F'd around and found out, and imho the only solution is leadership and strategy changes to shrink their business and refocus on b…

They didn‘t maximize profits at all. Why do people operate on the principle „if it is bad it had to be because of maximizing profits“? This seems to be much more about corruption and misaligned incentives as well as bigcorp bullshit-job rot. There is really only one thing that can cure this and that is more fierce competition

>Why do people operate on the principle „if it is bad it had to be because of maximizing profits“?

HackerNews seems to hate companies maximizing profits, but loves when people like Elon run roughshod over shareholders. I don't get it, either.

It's galaxy-brain stuff to believe that Boeing's biggest holders decided to make a few extra bucks in one year, and sink the 100+ year-old company the next. Versus, say, your theory that it's a multitude of issues relating to corporate rot.

Re: United Airlines CEO says the airline will consider alternatives to Boeing

#128

At this point, it’s quite pertinent how many corners Boeing has cut over and over again—the company’s culture and management is obviously poisonous. I’m probably a minority of folks, but at this point I’m flying on airlines with the fewest Boeing Max generation planes in their fleet. I also don’t really trust the FAA to properly regulate Boeing after years of a close relationship—the recent groundings are the bare mi…

In contrast, the relatively recent Boeing 787 has an impeccable track record and has become the most comfortable long distance aircraft. Is it a matter of separate teams, managerial era, or something else? The models with issues appear to be the older ones with retrofits. Perhaps there are failure vulnerabilities when mixing today's computer-reliant design into past institutional-knowledge-reliant human design.

> the relatively recent Boeing 787 has an impeccable track record

It was also grounded for a period.

Re: United Airlines CEO says the airline will consider alternatives to Boeing

#129
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Boeing decided they wanted to focus on maximizing profits > The shareholders/board decided to gut the company so they can get richer with stock buybacks Are you not saying the exact same thing, just being more explicit about the implicit "short-term" profits? The shareholders/board (e.g. Boeing...the decision makers) decided to gut the company so they can get richer (e.g. maximize [short-term] profits, since the pr…

I separate Boeing the business entity from the private capital that receives the cash.

that's ridiculous. it's like saying i separate myself the employee from the private individual receiving the salary. the two are the same. Just because the catholic church can get away with separating the same entity into multiple parts doesn't mean anyone can or should

Re: United Airlines CEO says the airline will consider alternatives to Boeing

#130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In contrast, the relatively recent Boeing 787 has an impeccable track record and has become the most comfortable long distance aircraft. Is it a matter of separate teams, managerial era, or something else? The models with issues appear to be the older ones with retrofits. Perhaps there are failure vulnerabilities when mixing today's computer-reliant design into past institutional-knowledge-reliant human design.

The 787 is absolutely plagued with quality control issues. In particular, deliveries were stopped for almost two full years from September 2020 to August 2022, with more issues found recently. The Charleston plant is considered the worse one compared to Everett. https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/boein...

Production of the 787 was consolidated in South Carolina in 2021.

https://www.heraldnet.com/business/last-everett-built-boeing...

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