United exec says loss of skills may have contributed to Boeing problems

A senior United Airlines executive highlighted the widespread loss of experience in the aviation industry since the COVID-19 pandemic and said it may have contributed to recent problems at Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab. "Experience counts and they need to have a good experienced team righting the ship," Executive Vice President Finance Gerry Laderman told the Airline Economics conference in Dublin. "Part of the problem for lots of industrial companies is nobody realised the difficulties that we were all going to get hit with as we came out of COVID," Laderman said. "Principally the supply chain but also a lack of senior people and a lot of retirements: the knowledge base. That impacts everybody, and I think that is part of what happened at Boeing and ... it will take time." Laderman said he would not comment on whether there should be management changes at the planemaker. Boeing said on Monday it was withdrawing a request for a key safety exemption that could have allowed regulators to speed up certification of its coming 737 MAX 7. Lawmakers had been pressuring the planemaker to withdraw the petition following a mid-air cabin blowout on Jan. 5 on a 737 MAX 9 that has exposed numerous safety and quality control concerns at one of the world's two major jetmakers. Investigators are examining whether bolts were missing or incorrectly installed on the Alaska Airlines jet.<br/>