Boeing lost $ 25 billion in capitalization after tragedy in Ethiopia

The tragedy of Sunday's Ethiopian Airlines flight, which claimed the lives of 157 occupants, revived fears about the safety of this aircraft model and caused its immobilization around the world, including in the United States. took three days decision

"It was a difficult week for them"says Matthew Yemma, crisis communications specialist at Peaks Strategies.

This is the second accident in less than five months that involves this model, which has been in service since May 2017 since the tragedy of the Lion Air flight in October in Indonesia, which killed 189 people.

Although investigations are continuing, evidence from the flight of Lion Air suspects a failure of the flight stabilization system to prevent a fall of the aircraft, the "MCAS".

Boeing, who was content with a succinct statement after the Ethiopian flight and insisted in the early days on the reliability and safety of the MAX, could have taken the initiative and temporarily immobilized the aircraft in order to resume confidence in its pbadengers and to guarantee its pbadengers. of the problem.

"Instead, they let things pile up and ended up losing market capitalization and a lot of money," Yemma said, adding that "the market and investors need to know that" There is nothing wrong with it and there is something that will be solved. "

In this type of situation, "you have to give as much information as you can," he said.

While several countries, including China among the first, have decided to leave the 737 MAX on the ground, behind the scenes, the aircraft manufacturer has been activated to prevent US authorities from doing the same.

Even its president, Dennis Muilenberg, telephoned Donald Trump to defend the 737 MAX, baduring that the plane was reliable.

It was not until Wednesday, after many airlines and governments, including the United States, decided to leave planes on the ground, that Boeing did the same thing "as a precaution".

"It's American arrogance," A source close to the manufacturer told AFP that "this arrogance is dangerous because it shows that the job was not done properly due to overconfidence".

According to the experts, in the era of social networks and the strong demand for transparency, it is essential to take initiatives.

"We live in a modern world where everyone expects a certain level of transparency (…) and quick responses, and Boeing has waited too long" to rebadure pbadengers, said Michael Priem, crisis communication expert at Modern Impact.

For Richard Aboulafia of Teal Group, Boeing could only have sent his technicians to the crash site and continue to evaluate what could have failed. But he notes that US authorities' reluctance to stop the aircraft raises questions about Boeing's links with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee of the US House of Representatives on Thursday heard leaders of the air regulator and plans to open an investigation into the certification of the 737 MAX, said to AFP a legislative source.

The commission is also seeking to determine what the pilots of the MCAS control system knew and did not exclude from possible public hearings.

In addition to the possible legal actions of the relatives of the victimsAnother consequence of the builder's silence is that pbadengers will now be questioning about the aircraft in which they are boarding, which could extend their distrust of the 737 MAX and other Boeing aircraft.