The Indo Daily: Is it safe to fly? Fatal incidents and near misses leave Boeing in freefall

The Boeing door blowout left a gaping hole on the Alaska Airlines plane in January. Photo: AP

It revolutionised how we travel the globe and brought air travel to the masses. However, Boeing - the world's largest aerospace company - is now trying to navigate a crisis. A number of high-profile accidents have led to major concerns about Boeing aircraft, and whether they are safe to fly on.

The collapse in confidence has led passengers and employees to question whether the once-trusted aeroplane manufacturer has put profits ahead of safety.

The Boeing 737 Max started flying in March 2017 for a range of airlines. In October 2018, a Boeing 737 Max came down in the Java Sea, shortly after leaving the Indonesian capital Jakarta. All 189 people on board Lion Air flight 610 were killed.

Then, in March 2019, Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 crashed soon after take-off from Addis Ababa. The 157 passengers and crew died.

The cause of both tragedies was the MCAS software system that effectively wrestled control from the pilots and defeated all their efforts to save the aircraft. It emerged that Boeing had not been transparent about the new software and its implications for pilot training.

All Boeing 737 Max aircraft worldwide were grounded for almost two years while modifications were made and tested.

Further concerns followed when a door fell off an Alaskan Airlines flight shortly after it took off from Portland, Oregon, in January of this year. This led to a temporary grounding of 737 Max aircraft in the United States. Following the incident, in which none of the passengers or crew were injured, both Alaska and United Airlines reported they had discovered loose parts on some of the aircraft.

Today on the Indo Daily, Tabitha Monahan is joined by aviation analyst Alex Macheras, to look at a company that once soared as the greatest innovator in aviation, but now finds itself in freefall.