BOEING IN CRISIS

The Boeing 737 MAX should regularly operate again in mid-March 2020, soon after receiving the recertification from the American aviation agency, the FAA. Until then, the global prohibition of flights imposed to the new jet would have completed one year. With the resuming of activities, even with important financial consequences, the situation tends to become normal, but the sequence of events experienced by the world’s largest aerospace conglomerate over the past years, already stands out in the aviation’s timeline due to its originality. In the aeronautical industry, no aircraft beyond the MAX has been so much time out of service, not even in the beginning of the jet era, in mid-1950.

The crisis has begun in January 2013, when the 787 Dreamliner, with few months of operation, was forbidden to fly. At that time, battery failures could lead to a fire in flight and endanger everybody on board. The solution was redesigning the project of the batteries and the storage compartment in the aircraft bays. In April the same year, the Dreamliner, pejoratively nicknamed “Fireliner” by a few, has flown again. Although the aircraft has been considered a commercial success and one of the most advanced aircrafts of all times, Boeing’s image was scorched. But the worst was still to come: the failure in the 787 was only the first stumble of a turbulence that would cause severe damages to the reputation of Boeing and its main aircraft, the 737 as well.

CENTENARY MANUFACTURER

Along over 100 years, Boeing has established as one of the world’s most admired and renowned aerospace manufacturers. While rival companies emerged, merged and disappeared, the aircraft