The Decay of Boeing
The aircraft manufacturer is the flagship company of U.S. airpower and aerospace. Succession failure in engineering and on the factory floor now threatens its functionality.
The U.S. company Boeing is one of only two aircraft manufacturers in the world currently capable of building the largest types of civilian aircraft, wide-body “jumbo jets” that can accommodate hundreds of passengers for long-haul flights over 10,000 km. The other is the European consortium Airbus, which is Boeing’s only real commercial competitor. In 2023, Airbus delivered 735 aircraft and currently has a backlog of 8598 planes, while Boeing has fallen behind, manufacturing 528 jets with a backlog of 6189.1 Over the last two decades, Airbus has slowly overtaken Boeing in commercial aircraft manufacturing. Although Boeing is also a major defense contractor, about 60% of its total revenue of roughly $78 billion comes from commercial business.2 Boeing today has a market capitalization of about $100 billion.3 In late 2018 and early 2019, two of Boeing’s new jetliners fatally crashed, killing a combined 346 people. Since January 2024, Boeing planes have experienced a series of near-catastrophic incidents that have garnered popular attention and regulatory concern, including an “equipment failure” that caused a temporary mid-air nosedive injuring over fifty people.4