It’s been sad sightseeing for aviation fans around the globe to see their beloved Boeing 737 Max being grounded. The half a century old aircraft which first took flight in 1967 have come across decades and generations of fanboys. Sadly the 2 recent crashes that took approximately 346 lives at 2 different locations (Oct 29, 2018, Lion Air & March 10 2019, Ethiopian Airlines) saw its global grounding, the new 737 max just got FAA’s approval 2 years back with flight operators going on a buying spree due to its latest onboard tech and fuel efficiency. What were Boeing’s bread and butter has put the company to its knees and further the ship won’t stop sinking. Regulators across the globe have all but accepted the fate with time ticking like a time bomb and with Boeing having everything to lose and customers (operators like Spicejet among others) becoming impatient on the losses mounted by the grounding. India’s very own Spicejet have 12 aircraft grounded. The aircraft manufacturer (Boeing) has had $3.4 billion of losses, not at all a small amount in any case.
The Jet engines used in aircraft also have been facing a lot of problems, aviation enthusiasts also think that this gives Boeing’s age-old rival Airbus a head start but then Airbus have been facing its own problems and the reason being the Pratt and Whitney on the new Airbus A320-321’s (NEOs). With DGCA, India taking tough calls on the engine manufacturer. The benefit here is to manufacturers like CFM, GM that can compensate their production schedule with utmost reliability but not the promised fuel efficiency of what P&W offers. Indigo has placed an order with CFM for its LEAP-1A that is priced at $20 billion to maintain its aircraft’s airworthiness and churn out more trips. In aviation, the more the aircraft is in the air the more profits it can make, idling on grounds is a costly affair.
This is the problem with the narrow-body single-aisle aircraft. When it comes to wide-body’s Boeing still has problems following it with its 787 Dreamliner’s Rolls Royce Trent 1000 engines facing problems. This is not being solved and the problem has persisted for long. Boeing is not able the test and has delayed the testing its 777 long haul ambitions. Airbus, on the other hand, has finally put the nail in its coffin by closing the A380 line-up. The world’s largest A380 operator Emirates has already outlined plans to phase out the fuel gulping flying beast. This behemoth would be missed dearly.
Operators around the globe from India Jet Airways to Thomas Cook being the latest to have its operations withdrawn. Air India’s ambition is already on the lines of a 100% stake sale by the Indian government. On the other hand, low-cost carriers are showing promising strong growth in the middle-east with India’s Indigo and Spicejet and AirAsia showing good sustainable profits. While long haul full-service carriers are going bust. Germany is mulling an emergency loan for it’s country’s flagship carrier which Lufthansa, this comes right after Thomas Cook going bust. Why is there so much happening in the aviation sector be it aircraft manufacturers or operators or aircrafts lessors. This is a question that India’s Anand Mahindra Chairman of Mahindra and Mahindra group said ‘If you want to be a millionaire, start with a Billion dollars and then start (buy) an airline!’.
