With nearly all the world’s jetliners sitting on the ground, Boeing’s own crisis with the 737 Max, which has been grounded since March of last year, has been pretty much out of the news.
And that was probably pretty good news for the planemaker, since airlines that had been suing Boeing over losses and delays while waiting for the planes to be re-certified have no use for them right now, and any losses they may still claim are certainly on hold as of March of this year.
Boeing, ever optimistic, now plans to restart manufacturing the planes and to prepare to deliver the backlog of planes already built—so many of them that a lack of storage space was as big a factor in stopping production as the pandemic. Boeing had been building 40 of the hugely-popular model a month, and will now start building up to a goal of 31 a month by next year.
It may be a winning gamble for Boeing: work to get new approvals for the planes has been continuing; if approval is given reasonably soon, the plane may fit right into a niche that many airlines will need as business recovers: a fuel-efficient modern jet whose size will match the reduced demand many airlines will experience. On the other hand, if Boeing can’t win approval in time…
