San Francisco Frontiers - Air India crash latest test for new Boeing leadership

Shares of the American plane manufacturer slumped more than four percent Thursday as the pope, King Charles and the president of India expressed sorrow over the Boeing 787 Dreamliner carrying 242 people.

Boeing pledged to support a probe.

"We are in contact with Air India regarding Flight 171 and stand ready to support them," the company said in a statement. "Our thoughts are with the passengers, crew, first responders and all affected."

The crash comes just before aerospace giants converge at Le Bourget Airport for next week's Paris Air Show, a major industry gathering attended by Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg and other top executives.

Prior to Thursday's calamity, industry insiders expected the focus at Le Bourget to include the aviation sector's adaptation to trade tensions, the latest state-of-the-art flying technologies and the outlook for any improvement in the supply chain that has slowed deliveries from Boeing and rival Airbus.

But the crash is also certain to be a major topic of conversation, a source of speculation as sobriety.

"A week from now there probably will be one or two operating hypothesis of what happened that people at the show and the public will be talking about," said Morningstar analyst Nicolas Owens, who noted that investigations into crashes normally take "several months" and typically involve multiple factors.

Only time will tell what the accident means for Boeing, but Owens still expects the company to rack up additional 787 orders next week in Paris.

"It's highly improbable that people conclude that it's a systemic problem with the engine or the plane," he said.

- MAX crashes different -

Air India's flight 171 issued a mayday call and crashed "immediately after takeoff," the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said.

British and US investigators were en route to western India for a probe expected to involve reviews of flight data, maintenance records and the background of the crew.

The ill-fated plane was delivered to Air India in 2014 and had more than 41,000 hours of flying time, according to consultancy Cirium.

That makes Thursday's tragedy different from the two fatal Boeing 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 that involved planes Boeing had only recently delivered to airlines.

A central factor in both MAX crashes was the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), a flight handling system that badly malfunctioned, pointing to design flaws.

The MAX crashes plunged Boeing into a years-long slump extended by fresh safety problems early in 2024. Boeing has reported annual losses the last six years.

Available video of the Air India crash suggests "some form of power or flight control loss," said Robert Clifford, a Chicago attorney representing some family members of the 346 MAX victims.

"The Indian government investigators should have flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder information within a couple of days that will provide vital information."

Since introducing the Dreamliner into service in 2011, Boeing has had to do some rework, mainly due to assembly faults and manufacturing quality issues.

The plane was also scrutinized in an April 2024 US Senate hearing that aired criticism from a whistleblower who testified that he was blackballed after reporting serious manufacturing defects on the 787 and the 777.

But Thursday marked the first deadly crash of a 787 Dreamliner, a plane that has enjoyed a strong reputation within the industry.

On May 29, Ortberg told a financial conference that the recent approval by US aviation authorities to allow increased 787 output was "an important milestone" in the company's comeback.

Ortberg, who relocated to Seattle to be closer to key manufacturing operations, has generally won plaudits from aviation watchers since joining in August 2024, navigating Boeing through a labor strike and joining President Donald Trump's Middle East delegation.

Richard Aboulafia, managing director at consultancy AeroDynamic Advisory, said there is no indication of a 787 design flaw.

"There's inevitably fear," Aboulafia said of Thursday's stock market reaction.

"It's a tragedy but it's unlikely to affect perceptions of the 787 because there's nothing known at this point and it's got a very good record," he said.

R.Moore--SFF