Before the 787-8 Dreamliner departing Ahmedabad, India, plunged to the ground after take-off on Thursday, Boeing was already tiptoeing away from a financial and reputational cliff.

While the investigation is only beginning, the Air India Dreamliner crash will almost inevitably push people to ask if this is one air disaster too many for the century-old plane-maker Boeing.

Boeing Max 8s being made at the Renton factory in Seattle.Credit: Boeing

Crashes of Boeings have happened at an alarming cadence in recent years.

An Indonesian Lion Air Boeing 737 Max crashed in 2018, followed by an Ethiopian Airlines of the same model in 2019. An issue was traced to a flawed flight control system. The incidents sparked a global grounding of the fleet. The door on an Alaska Airlines 737 came off in midair in January 2024.

The next month, an outside panel of experts had concluded Boeing faced persistent shortcomings in its safety culture. Regulators moved in. The share price slid. Costs mounted. And a new CEO was found. “If it’s Boeing, I’m not going” became a catchphrase.

So........

© WA Today