“If it’s not Boeing, I’m not going,” was long a cherished slogan of the aircraft giant. Not everyone agrees today: French finance minister Bruno Le Maire said this week that he preferred “flying in Airbus over Boeing — my family too, they care about me”. The quip probably reflected often bitter transatlantic rivalries over plane-making. But five years after twin Boeing 737 Max 8 plane crashes killed 346 people, and two months after a door panel on another model blew out mid-flight, the company’s woes seem to be deepening. As the Southwest Airlines CEO has put it, Boeing needs to “get the issues understood and get the issues fixed”.
“不是波音我不坐?！边@是這家飛機巨頭長期以來珍視的口號。如今，并非所有人都同意這一點：法國財政部長布魯諾?勒梅爾(Bruno Le Maire)本周表示，他更喜歡“乘坐空客而非波音——我的家人也一樣，他們在乎我”。這句調侃可能反映了大西洋兩岸在飛機制造方面常常較為激烈的競爭。但五年前，兩架波音737 Max 8飛機墜毀，造成346人死亡；兩個月前，另一款波音機型的一塊門塞在飛行途中脫落；波音公司的困境似乎正在加深。正如美國西南航空公司首席執行官所說，波音需要“弄清楚問題并解決問題”。