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United Airlines CEO says the airline will consider alternatives to Boeing
161–170 of 231 posts
Re: United Airlines CEO says the airline will consider alternatives to Boeing
#162At 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…
I haven't tried to avoid MAX, but I have two friends who tried very hard to change flights or only get flights that are not MAX. So you are not alone. You just need to spend more money and time
I tried this, but they just switched planes on me last minute.
Re: United Airlines CEO says the airline will consider alternatives to Boeing
#163Actions 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…
> Actions have consequences.
In 2022, Calhoun received $22.5 million from Boeing. In February 2023, Boeing awarded Calhoun an incentive of about $5.29 million in restricted stock units to "induce him to stay throughout the company's recovery." In March 2023, Boeing announced Calhoun was being given shares worth $15 million that will vest in installments over three years.
Consequences for who?
Re: United Airlines CEO says the airline will consider alternatives to Boeing
#164At 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…
Is there a reason to isolate this QA culture to just the Max production line? I'm concerned about anything they have produced recently.
No, they also got in hot water with the Air Force after the Air Force found tools in a KC-46 fuel tank . . .
Re: United Airlines CEO says the airline will consider alternatives to Boeing
#165Earlier quoted context omitted.
NASA subcontracted about everything for the space program.
and between the end of Apollo and the emergence of "new space" companies like SpaceX, we saw them get taken for a ride by those very subcontractors with absurdly overpriced cost-plus projects that were always over budget, late and did the bare minimum to meet requirements. Funnily, even with NASA's example, we have several instances of Boeing screwing up everything in favor of short term gains. ULA had to be 'forced'…
> we saw them get taken for a ride by those very subcontractors with absurdly overpriced cost-plus projects that were always over budget, late and did the bare minimum to meet requirements.
What is the evidence of that?
Certainly there's every reason to believe that they exceeded requirements by a lot: NASA not only has an astounding successs rate (in the most challenging engineering and manufacturing challenges in human history) but their missions tend to last far longer than the specifications. Voyager 1 and 2 are still flying, and so is that helicopter.
In fact, is there any organization ever that is a worse fit for the description, "did the bare minimum to meet requirements".
For an interesting description of how NASA engineering and budgeting actually work, here's someone from JPL (for a bit more, see other comments from the same user):
Re: United Airlines CEO says the airline will consider alternatives to Boeing
#166Earlier quoted context omitted.
Honestly, Boeing makes the case for returning certain companies to elite control. Mullenberg, an engineer, burned down Boeing for tens of millions today. A family that controls it wouldn’t rationally do that.
The worst part is the 737 MAX development went way over-budget. The idiots cut corners and didn't even save money! It is genuinely important for big corporations to have owners with a very long investment horizon who are involved in corporate management. People who are planning for their great-grandchildren are essentially trying their best to set up a company that can last forever.
They thought re-engining the 737 would cost 2bn and a new plane would cost 10bn for a savings of 8bn. The actual development cost for the MAX was 4bn so their estimates were off by a factor of two. Naively the MAX saved Boeing 16bn (20bn - 4bn) in development costs. They saved “double” (by failing upwards) on development and it only cost them the future of the company.
Re: United Airlines CEO says the airline will consider alternatives to Boeing
#167Earlier quoted context omitted.
NASA subcontracted about everything for the space program.
NASA is a government organization with different incentives, and, has arguably suffers from similar problems that Boeing is experiencing.
> arguably suffers from similar problems that Boeing is experiencing.
What problems are you referring to?
Re: United Airlines CEO says the airline will consider alternatives to Boeing
#168At 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.
Hard disagree on most comfortable long distance aircraft.
It's one of them, but not the only (and I'd argue not the most). The A350 beats it for me, plus, it doesn't have that pesky range issue that is causing Europe to Asia carriers to adopt the A350 (detours around Ukrainian and Russian air space).
Re: United Airlines CEO says the airline will consider alternatives to Boeing
#169Earlier quoted context omitted.
and between the end of Apollo and the emergence of "new space" companies like SpaceX, we saw them get taken for a ride by those very subcontractors with absurdly overpriced cost-plus projects that were always over budget, late and did the bare minimum to meet requirements. Funnily, even with NASA's example, we have several instances of Boeing screwing up everything in favor of short term gains. ULA had to be 'forced'…
> we saw them get taken for a ride by those very subcontractors with absurdly overpriced cost-plus projects that were always over budget, late and did the bare minimum to meet requirements. What is the evidence of that? Certainly there's every reason to believe that they exceeded requirements by a lot: NASA not only has an astounding successs rate (in the most challenging engineering and manufacturing challenges in h…
I'm talking about the contractors. Most of the rovers, orbiters etc which we think of when we think of NASA overperforming, like Curiosity, Spirit, Voyager, Cassini, were built by JPL, not Boeing, Lockmart or NG.
Re: United Airlines CEO says the airline will consider alternatives to Boeing
#170This kind of enshitification is ultimately an emergent property of public market ownership. You can see the result of a controlled experiment by eating at McDonalds then at In-n-out Burger (one is public, the other private). I'd include PE under the public ownership category, despite the name.
Boeing has been owned by the public market for a long time?