Boeing Door Blowout Crisis Hitting Suppliers, Airlines and Passengers
Editor
17 July 2024 22:59 WIB
COST CUTS
With its earnings under pressure, Southwest has decided to concentrate on more profitable markets and exit Bellingham and three other airports.
It has already stopped hiring pilots and suspended training for new hires and drawn up plans to offer its pilots reduced hours and effectively lower pay.
That's a dramatic reversal in fortune for its pilots, who barely six months back were so much in demand at rival carriers that the company was struggling to stabilize the attrition rate.
In Bellingham, Southwest accounts for about 40% of passenger traffic. Its arrival in late 2021 helped the small city airport compete as a lower-fare alternative to Canada's Vancouver International Airport, which had almost 25 million arriving and departing passengers last year. Travelers from Canada accounted for over half of Bellingham's estimated passenger traffic of over 630,000 last year.
City officials see an economic impact once Southwest stops operating in the city in August. "It'd definitely be felt in our communities," said Kip Turner, Director of Aviation at Bellingham International Airport.
ENSURE HIGHEST QUALITY
Since the Jan. 5 incident, Boeing has abruptly announced sweeping management changes that included the departure of its CEO Dave Calhoun at the end of the year.
The planemaker has increased inspections at its own and suppliers' facilities, expanded training for new hires, and instructed managers to spend more time on the factory floor.
Industry executives say while they are encouraged by Boeing's action plan, they need results.
"We want to ensure that they produce the highest quality aircraft, that we can confidently fly safely every single day," said Alaska Airlines CFO Shane Tackett.
($1 = 1.3632 Canadian dollars)
REUTERS
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