The issue isn’t the outsourcing per se, but managing a complex supply chain is a unique skill, automakers excel at it and Boeing thougth it was easy, it’s not. Keep in mind that Spirit Aero Systems was Boeing, until Boeing spun it off. And just as GM and Ford learned in the Delphi and Visteon spin-offs the parent company doesnt actually have the skills to repalce the spin offs with other suppliers, and once those units have their own Profit Margins to manage it’s even harder.
]]>AA, DL and UA were all loyal to Boeing and had most favored nation contracts w/ Boeing until the US government said those contracts were illegal as part of the Boeing-McDonnell Douglas merger.
]]>carleton,
yes, AA, not WN was the big driver that pushed Boeing to develop the MAX. Supposedly a combination of AA’s need for lots of aircraft at reasonable prices fairly quickly and Airbus’ development of the A320NEO family.
you do have to wonder at what point Boeing will build an all-new aircraft but they have said – and it is accurate -that there is not a big enough technology jump to justify building an all-new narrowbody right now.
That principle is precisely why DL bought a bunch of end of production line A321CEOs and B737-900ERs at substantial discounts compared to the NEO and MAX. and the CEO and NG are proven and the bugs have generally been worked out. and then they doubled down during covid by buying 3 dozen or so ex-Lion Air 900ERs.
Not only is the A220 the most modern and comfortable narrowbody but Airbus has the potential to kill the MAX and the A320NEO if a further stretch of the A220 is built and produced in large enough quantities.
@Tim Dunn – “I clicked on your link and you simply use an AA exec confab with employees as your source.”
You said earnings call. I wrote about something nobody else had written about, and it wasn’t yet public. Apology accepted.
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