Technical difficulties on the 737 MAX and long-haul 777X, supply chain setbacks, setbacks in space, ruinous defense contracts, a multi-year delay in delivery of the two presidential Air Force One 747-8s, a debt of 58 billion dollars (53 billion euros) and an unprecedented strike since 2008: Boeing is going through the most dangerous area of turbulence since its creation in 1916. And now it is pursuing liquidity, without its survival.
After announcing, on Friday, October 11, the elimination of 17,000 jobs (10% of its workforce), the American aircraft manufacturer announced, on Tuesday, October 15, that it will raise up to $25 billion (debt, capital ) to protect yourself. “flexibility” AND “support the company’s balance sheet over a three-year period.” To this will be added a credit line of 10 billion dollars subscribed to Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase. Enough to reassure Wall Street a bit: the stock has lost 42% since 1Ahem January – which expects, on October 23, the publication of poor results for the third quarter.
The new CEO of Boeing, Kelly Ortberg, in office since August after the accelerated overthrow of Dave Calhoun, has a social emergency: find a way out of the strike, since September 13, of the 33,000 employees of Everett companies and Renton (Washington). ), which mainly assembles 777, 787 Dreamliner and 737. Followed by an overwhelming majority of employees, demanding 40% salary increases, it enters its second month and has already cost about 3 billion dollars.
Boeing’s difficulties began much earlier with the two successive accidents of its new medium-haul 737 MAX, in October 2018 and March 2019, which caused the death of 346 passengers and crew. “It all started in the early 2000s, when Boeing saw Airbus arrive as a true competitor”explains a former head of aeronautics, on condition of anonymity. Until then, the Seattle aircraft manufacturer, which had bought its American competitor McDonnell Douglas in 1996, did not believe it had any real rival. And he embarked on a policy where profitability took precedence over security.
Invoice for the two accidents
To maintain its lead, Boeing also decided to abandon fully integrated production to copy the more fragmented Airbus model. “It broke its model, sold factories to manufacture its long-haul 787 Dreamliner. And it didn’t work! »recalls the former captain of industry. His problems continued “when Boeing couldn’t decide whether to launch a successor to the 737, designed in the 1960s, or redesign it”points out. “American Airlines had to tell the manufacturer: “We have ordered 150 Airbus A320neos. If it is not decided in forty-eight hours, we will ask for 150 more.”still remembers the leader. But, continue, “Boeing’s biggest mistake was following Airbus’s example and redesigning its 737, when its plane no longer had development potential”.
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