One of Boeing's biggest customers, Dubai carrier Emirates, threw its support behind a possible Boeing takeover of Spirit AeroSystems, saying it would be a step towards resolving the planemaker's industrial and quality crisis.
U.S. regulators are carrying out factory audits at both
Boeing and its supplier Spirit and have reported findings following the
dramatic blowout of a dummy door on a 737 MAX 9 airliner in January, which has
been blamed on missing bolts.
Emirates Airline President Tim Clark told reporters on
Wednesday that Boeing should address its quality problems as quickly as
possible with the undiluted attention of its board and top management or face
questions over its future.
Boeing said last week it was in talks to buy its former
subsidiary. Separately, industry sources said Spirit and Boeing's European
rival Airbus had explored the idea of Airbus taking over some Spirit operations
that supply it with parts.
Spirit makes around 70% of the 737 MAX and builds the
forward fuselage for the 787 and future 777X, both of which Emirates has
ordered. It was spun off from Boeing in 2005.
"I never understood that at the time. It would be like
us saying we are going to take our engineering and operations and give them to
someone else to run," Clark said.
"This is anathema to our way of thinking but that is
what they did and I think it has been a problem for them ever since."
Clark is seen as one of the industry's most influential
leaders and has in the past criticised both Boeing and Airbus for industrial
flaws and delays, or for their strategic choices.
Speaking in London last week, he appeared to cast doubt on
the future of Boeing's leaders, but stopped short of calling for heads to roll.
He mused whether Boeing needed new governance and noted this "invariably
involves changing the people".
Speaking on the sidelines of the ITB travel fair in Berlin
on Wednesday, Clark gave lukewarm backing to Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun and called
for direct involvement by the company's board.
Asked how long he thought it would take for Boeing to get
itself back on track, Clark said: "It depends how much resource they put
in it. It requires the undiluted focus of the board, to the exclusion of
everything else.
BOEING PRIORITIES
"They must, all of them, deal with this problem first
and foremost. Don't worry about anything else, just get this job done. Because
if you don't, your company will go out of existence. Another event like this
will almost cripple the company," he said, adding the U.S. government and
travelling public expected nothing less.
"I think Calhoun and his colleagues are on it, but ...
it's up to them," he said.
Calhoun said last week that Boeing would develop an action
plan that demonstrates "profound change" and that its leadership was
totally committed to meeting that challenge.
Clark indicated some progress in a separate dispute with
Rolls-Royce over the durability of engines for the A350-1000 but insisted he
would not order the Airbus jet until maintenance improvements being planned by
Rolls could be demonstrated.
Rolls-Royce CEO Tufan Erginbilgic visited Dubai last week
and outlined the company's latest plans to invest a billion pounds in
improvements to the Trent engine family, he said.
"He knows he has a problem and is determined to sort it
out," Clark added.
On wider airline industry trends, Clark said strong demand
was expected to maintain higher fares and noted a surge in air cargo activity
as a result of attacks on Red Sea shipping. -Reuters
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