I avoid Boeing aircraft because I value my life, says French finance minister
France’s finance minister has said he avoids flying on Boeing aircraft because he values his life, after a string of mishaps including a blowout at 16,000ft.
Bruno Le Maire mocked the problems faced by the troubled US planemaker and compared its fortunes to the company’s European arch rival Airbus, which has the French government as its biggest shareholder.
Speaking at the Europe 2024 conference in Berlin, Mr Le Maire said: “I now prefer flying in Airbus over Boeing – my family too, they care about me.”
To laughter and applause from the audience, he added that he preferred “the situation of Airbus to Boeing’s”.
The US business has been in crisis since a refrigerator-sized hole opened up in a plane mid-flight in January.
Terrified passengers’ bags, clothes and mobile phones were sucked out of the plane as it rapidly depressurised, leaving many fearing for their lives.
The blowout was linked to loose bolts and led the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to ground all Boeing 737 Max 9 planes with a door plug.
A six-week investigation by the FAA, published earlier this month, found multiple instances where Boeing and one of its suppliers “allegedly failed to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements”.
Guillaume Faury, chief executive of Airbus, quickly distanced himself from the French minister’s comments as he took to the stage at the same event.
He said he is “not happy with the problems of my competitor” and reiterated that Boeing’s troubles are a reminder for all to remain humble.
He said: “Aviation attracts a lot of attention on safety. What I take is humility, not complacency.”
It is not the first controversial comment by Mr Le Maire, who earlier this year demanded British taxpayer support for UK nuclear power stations being built by French company EDF.
In 2023, during a bout of austerity, he was criticised by French protesters for allegedly writing a novel about legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz which featured an explicit sex scene.
The FAA has given Boeing a three-month deadline to show it has fixed its manufacturing processes after it failed some factory audits initiated by the regulator in the wake of the accident.
Boeing replaced the executive leading its troubled 737 manufacturing business amid clamour for improvements.
The Alaska Airlines blowout is not its only recent trouble. In March 2019, the 737 Max was grounded for 20 months after 346 people died in two similar crashes that investigators later discovered were linked to a new flight stabilisation feature Boeing had installed.
In just the past three weeks, there were reports of a 737 Max that slid off a runway while landing in Houston, a 737-900 that was forced to land after flames were spotted spewing from its engine, a tyre that fell off a 777 in San Francisco and a cargo hold left ajar in Portland.
Last weekend, a safety whistleblower at a Boeing factory in South Carolina was discovered dead in his car from an apparent suicide, while last Monday, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner nosedived during a flight from Sydney to Auckland, injuring dozens of passengers.
Boeing declined to comment.
