(AOF) – The American aircraft manufacturer Boeing has agreed to pay a fine of 200 million dollars to put an end to the charges brought against it by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the stock market policeman in the United States. The latter had blamed Boeing for misleading investors and the public about the safety of the 737Max, after two of these planes crashed in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people.
The SEC notably criticized Boeing for having assured investors that this aircraft was risk-free when the American aircraft manufacturer knew that its MCAS anti-stall system posed a security problem. The SEC had accused the Boeing Company and its former CEO, Dennis Muilenburg, of “making materially misleading public statements” following the crashes.
At the time, the investigators who had worked to elucidate the causes which caused the two crashes (one in Indonesia in October 2018, the other in Ethiopia in March 2019) had established that they were partly linked to a system faulty automated flight control system called MCAS.
Six weeks after the second crash, at the company’s annual general meeting, the SEC says Dennis Muilenburg told investors, analysts and reporters that the company followed normal procedures when it certified the aircraft by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the government agency responsible for civil aviation regulations and controls, even though it knew at the time that Boeing had discovered evidence that its internal departments had misled the FAA about MCAS.
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Once again weakened results for European airlines
With fuel accounting for up to 35% of their costs, professionals believe European airlines are unlikely to return to profit until 2023 or 2024 at the earliest. These players predict that energy prices will remain high at least until 2023. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced a forecast of cumulative losses of 9.7 billion dollars in 2022 for airlines at around the world, it will still be necessary to wait until 2023 to see the return to profits on a global scale, due in particular to the surge in oil costs and the rise in labor costs. On the positive side, travel demand seems to be resisting the uncertainties caused by the international economic and political situation. However, the uncertainties concerning the Covid, the war in Ukraine, as well as the rise in prices are strengthening last-minute reservations. According to Iata, only 8% of international reservations made at the end of May went beyond September.
The social climate is deteriorating in low-cost companies
These companies are benefiting from a very strong recovery. They had already managed to monopolize 40% of air traffic in 2021, this proportion could even rise to 50% this year. However, strike movements have affected the activity of Volotea, EasyJet and Ryanair, with confrontations over pay and working conditions. In general, the sector faces a shortage of personnel. After having severely cut their workforce in 2020 and 2021, companies and airports must urgently recruit to support the relaunch of activity.
The end of a duopoly?
For several decades, the American Boeing and the European Airbus have shared 99% of the world market for airliners with more than 110 seats. This market weighs more than 100 billion dollars per year. However, this duopoly seems to be weakened in 2022 for several reasons. First, for the first time, two medium-haul single-aisle aircraft, the Chinese Comac’s C919 and the Russian Irkut’s MC-21, are about to enter service. Added to this is the Boeing 737 MAX crisis. With the cessation of deliveries of this aircraft between 2019 and 2021, the production balance has been broken. In 2021 Boeing posted 340 deliveries, with Airbus remaining well ahead with 611.