Boeing’s challenge: Winning back trust
When 737 Max jets return to the sky, travelers may need some convincing
Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg made a bold promise to travelers Thursday.
❚ When the grounded Boeing 737 Max planes return to the skies after a software fix due within weeks, they will be “among the safest planes ever to fly,” he said.
❚ “We remain confident in the fundamental safety of the 737 Max,” Muilenburg said in a video accepting blame for Boeing’s role in two fatal Max 8 crashes in five months.
Skittish travelers likely will need more convincing. They present a major challenge to airlines including Southwest, American and United when the planes return to their flight schedules.
Already, some are questioning Boeing’s confidence in the plane.
“737 Max is a super safe aircraft as long as it’s on the ground,” one Twitter user responded after Muilenburg posted a snippet of his video Thursday.
Another said, “I won’t ride in a plane that requires special software to keep it from stalling.” An anti-stalling system has been implicated in both crashes.
Airlines won’t talk about their marketing plans for reintroducing the Max because there is no timeline for its return given the crash investigations and the software fix, which requires the blessing of the Federal Aviation Administration and additional pilot training.
There’s a lot of work ahead to convince travelers the plane is safe. The 737 Max has become a household word and is tainted in many travelers’ minds.
No carrier is more aware of the looming challenge than Ethiopian Airlines, though the concern among its customers will be magnified given the March 10 Max 8 crash that killed 157.
“You can imagine the stigma that will be attached to that airplane,” Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde GebreMariam said in an interview with Bloomberg News after the preliminary crash report was released Thursday.
The U.S. carriers that fly the 737 Max – Southwest, American and United – have spent the past few weeks reassuring skittish passengers that, yes, their Boeing 737 Max planes are grounded.
No, that’s not a Max 8 or Max 9 you’re on, they say to passengers firing off questions on Twitter and Facebook. It’s a Boeing 737-800 or 737-900, different models.
How they flip the script when the plane is back, explaining why it’s back and reliable, will be key to winning travelers’ confidence, experts say.
There are no quick fixes, said Michael Meath, interim chair of public relations at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. “Even if everybody comes out and says: ‘Hey, we got the fix. It’s all good. We’ve tested it. Everybody’s happy, we’re good to go,’ it’s going to take time.”
What won’t work, Meath said: a fullpage newspaper ad or a slick video featuring an airline CEO on a 737 Max “walking up the aisle, leaning on a firstclass seat, to show how safe they are.”
Meath said videos showing pilot training and other behind-the-scenes steps the airlines took could be a hit, as well as statistics on what measures airlines took to ensure the planes are safe.
American Airlines spokesman Ross Feinstein said the airline is likely to continue to feature its pilots’ experience to reassure passengers. “Once the aircraft is cleared to fly again, American will continue to look at ways to reiterate to our customers that our pilots are the best in the business and would never fly an unsafe aircraft,” he said.
At a news conference after a Boeing event a week ago, where the manufacturer showed off the software fixes to pilots and airline officials, an American pilot was asked when passengers will know it’s safe to fly the 737 Max.
“I think when they see our pilots are confident getting into the aircraft they will follow us,” said Roddy Guthrie, a 737 fleet captain.