NEW YORK
The devastating Air India crash seems certain to embroil Boeing in further rounds of negative headlines at a time when it has shown progress under new leadership.
Shares of the American plane manufacturer finished down nearly five percent Thursday as the pope, King Charles and the president of India expressed sorrow over the Boeing 787 Dreamliner carrying 242 people.
“Our deepest condolences go out to the loved ones of the passengers and crew on board Air India Flight 171, as well as everyone affected in Ahmedabad,” said Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, adding in a statement that he told Air India’s chairman Boeing would support the probe.
The calamity, the first deadly crash of a 787, comes just before Ortberg and other aerospace leaders converge at Le Bourget Airport for next week’s Paris Air Show. 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, as well as a source of speculation and 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.
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.
