Can Boeing save its reputation after another MAX incident?

Once occupying a lofty perch as the biggest commercial planemaker in the world, the aviation giant has seen its reputation plummet again in the wake of yet another 737 MAX fiasco. Jake Nelson examines how the company might pull out of its tailspin.

Possibly no company in aviation has had a more calamitous fall from grace in recent years than Boeing. Once the most revered planemaker in the business with a rolled-gold reputation for safety and quality – “if it ain’t Boeing, I ain’t going”, as the saying went – the saga of the 737 MAX has since trashed its public perception, with archrival Airbus overtaking it as the world’s biggest manufacturer of passenger aircraft amid a string of high-profile MAX safety incidents.

“[The MAX 8 and MAX 9 incidents] are a series of blows on Boeing’s reputation, which are the least that any businesses want to see or experience,” says Chrystal Zhang, associate professor of aerospace engineering and aviation at RMIT University, who has written several articles about the 737 MAX crisis.