Recently, an Alaska Airlines Max 9 jetliner was forced to make an emergency landing after a panel called a door plug blew out of the side of the plane (its fuselage) while travelling 16,000 feet above the ground, shortly after takeoff from Portland, Oregon. Alaska and United Airlines, the only other US airline that flies the Max 9, reported finding loose hardware in door plugs of other planes they inspected after the accident. Both airlines have cancelled hundreds of flights while their Max 9s are grounded. Here in India, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation reported an unidentified domestic operator of the Boeing 737 Max 8 finding a missing washer during a maintenance inspection.
While the US’s National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating the mid-flight accident, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has said it will review information from inspections of Boeing 737 Max 9 jets and develop a maintenance process before letting the planes carry passengers again. The FAA will also probe whether Boeing and its suppliers followed quality-control procedures, in the light of the fact that the panel was manufactured in Malaysia by Boeing’s leading supplier. The focus is on the global supply chain of the company, which over a period of many years, outsourced much of its manufacturing.
The developments have turned out to be a wake-up call to the aviation sector. Stakeholders are now double-checking mandates pertaining to air safety, and reassessing dependence on a handful of players. Remember, the Boeing 737 Max aircraft has had a chequered history over the past few years. The aircraft was at the centre of two fatal plane crashes — in October 2018 in Indonesia, and in March 2019 in Ethiopia. The two accidents claimed 346 lives. In the aftermath, all 737 Max planes were grounded for nearly two years. Boeing also faced woes in terms of manufacturing and inspection flaws owing to which it suspended delivery of the long-haul 787 aircraft several times over a span of two years.
The longstanding duopoly enjoyed by companies like Boeing and Airbus, working in cutting edge-aerospace technology is a cause of heartache for airline operators based in the global south. The providers of these aviation workhorses have a close-knit supply chain ecosystem comprising companies that deliver critical components, such as engines to these aviation behemoths. Pratt & Whitney, Rolls Royce, and GE are right at the top of the vendor pyramid. The constricted pool from which airline operators can pick their aircraft, and their spares has often led to severe disruptions in the aviation markets vis-a-vis expansion plans and profitability.
A low-cost Indian carrier has warned of potential disruption in the business over the next three months, on account of its Airbus planes being grounded due to faulty engines. The implication of such disruptions are pronounced in India, which happens to be the only large economy that has evolved to pre-pandemic levels both domestically and internationally in terms of demand. It’s the third largest market for aircrafts after the US and China — backed by high traffic growth, it will need more than 2,500 new aircraft deliveries by 2042, in order to meet the rising passenger and cargo demand.
It’s high time the western giants considered establishing local assembly lines in India, while our own administration and private players will need to start looking at building Centres of Excellence for aviation training.