What went wrong with Boeing’s 737 Max jets?

The dramatic blowout of a section of the fuselage on an Alaska Airlines flight has put the focus back on Boeing’s 737 Max — the US company’s most popular plane and also its biggest source of revenue in its commercial aircraft business.  The latest crisis involves the 737 Max 9, a longer version of the most common model, the Max 8 which was at the centre of a controversy after two crashes in 2018 and 2019 killed a combined 346 people. About 217 Max 9 aircraft are in operation, according to aviation consultancy Cirium. The FAA has grounded 171 of these, including United Airlines’ 79-plane Max 9 fleet.  United and Alaska Airlines on Monday found loose parts on some of the grounded aircraft, threatening to widen the problems for Boeing. The blowout wiped $12b off Boeing’s market value on Monday. Whatever the outcome of the investigation, Boeing will have a massive battle to restore passenger confidence in the Max family. The Max is the updated version of Boeing’s best-seller, the 737 which for decades was the workhorse of short-haul air travel. The US plane maker launched the model in a rush to catch up with European arch-rival Airbus whose new, more fuel-efficient A320neo, was snaring orders. In its haste to get the aircraft certified and launched by 2017, Boeing cut corners, leading to the Max 8 accidents. The Max 8 was the biggest crisis in Boeing’s history. Investigations following the crashes revealed the company had concealed design flaws in flight control software from pilots and regulators in a race to get the aircraft certified. The crisis led to the grounding of the Max fleet in late 2019 for 20 months, costing Boeing billions of dollars. It led to the ousting of its then CE and called into question its credibility as a manufacturer. The Max was modified and then comprehensively retested before being recertified and allowed back into the skies. <br/>