Industry
The head of one of Boeing Co’s largest ambassadors, Emirates Dubai, is urging the airline to make fundamental changes following the launch of a faulty 737 MAX jet and has insisted on “culpability and accountability ”From the very top.
Emirates Airline President Tim Clark moves in while speaking at an interview with Reuters in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 13 January 2021. REUTERS / Abdel Hadi Ramahi
DUBAI: The head of one of Boeing Co ‘s largest envoys, Emirates Dubai, is urging the aviator to make fundamental changes following the crash of a defective 737 MAX jet and has insisted on “culpability and accountable ”from the very top.
Influential Emirates President Tim Clark said a crash about his 737 MAX crashes had damaged the air travel industry as a whole, but he was confident the redesigned jet was safe.
“Boeing needs to take a hard look at themselves; I’m sure it does,” Clark told Reuters.
“But they need to (show) evidence to people like the airline community, the traveling public, that they have made the changes they need in a visible way,” he said. also suggests a shift of emphasis on financial matters.
“That (can’t) can only be done at the board level and executed … at a high level,” Clark said. “I believe there is still work to be done in Boeing to resolve themselves … There is guilt and accountability from the top down and they need to recognize that.”
Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The comments from the head of one of the world’s largest carriers, with Boeing jets worth more than US $ 50 billion at list-price prices, are among the most direct criticisms since a 20-month ban on flights MAX build in December.
Last week Boeing agreed to pay US $ 2.5 billion in a deal with federal prosecutors on a fraudulent conspiracy charge concerning the defective development of the MAX.
Clark’s criticism, which was aimed at the top echelons of the world’s largest aerospace company, was contrasted with the settlement’s focus on two lower-ranking Boeing employees that prosecutors say they were deceived by U.S. rulers.
The jet, a staple of short-haul worldwide, was set up in March 2019 after crashes involving faulty software.
‘INCLUDING’
“Clearly there was a process and practices, ideas – DNA if you will – that had to be sorted from the top down. It’s useless to shake the deck,” Clark said, though he stopped short of outlining detailed actions that Boeing should take.
Boeing should understand the extent of the damage to the industry and “make fundamental structural changes,” Clark said.
Since the crashes, Boeing has fired on its former boss, added a board safety committee and agreed to strengthen internal controls. But Boeing turned for its new CEO to a defender, Dave Calhoun, who has been a board member for a long time.
He says he learned “many hard lessons” from the crisis.
On Wednesday, Calhoun Mike Delaney announced the chief aerospace safety officer, a new position.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, which has admitted errors during certification, has seen its global leadership damaged by the crisis.
Clark supported the European Union’s Aviation Safety Agency for taking a “very hard line” over the redesign.
“This is not some kind of maternity stage study,” he said. “This is a detailed evaluation of all that makes these planes fly, then I think it should be something that people should be calm about flying in. “
(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell in Dubai; Additional writing and reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle, Tim Hepher in Paris; Editing by Howard Goller)