Boeing’s reputation took a hit this month, according to surveys conducted by Morning Consult.
A report from the market research firm shows that net confidence fell 12 percentage points among U.S. adults from December 2023 to January 2024.
Net trust represents the share of people who say they trust a brand minus those who say they don’t trust it.
Net trust also declined among frequent flyers and, to a lesser extent, business travelers, according to Joanna Piacenza, Morning Consult’s head of industry intelligence, according to the report, which surveyed nearly 170,000 people.
The drop in confidence comes on the heels of the door plug that blew up a Boeing 737 Max 9 operated by Alaska Airlines on Jan. 5.
“Notably, we are not seeing the same negative impact for Alaska Airlines, or for United Airlines, which announced that its crew had found loose bolts on its 737 Max 9s during inspections,” according to the Morning Consult report.
Boeing has not yet responded to CNBC’s request for comment.
In a statement released on January 23, Stanley Deal, CEO of Commercial Airplanes, said: “We have disappointed our airline customers and are deeply sorry for the significant inconvenience suffered by them, their employees and their passengers. We are By taking comprehensive measures we plan to return these aircraft to service safely and improve our quality and delivery performance.”
Withstanding difficult times
Boeing’s reputation has seen worse times, with net confidence among US adults falling below 6% after two Max 8 crashes in five months: Lion Air Flight 610 in October 2018 and Boeing Flight 302. ‘Ethiopian Airlines in March 2019.
Since 2020, net confidence in Boeing has slowly but steadily increased, with investor confidence levels with a high dollar leading the way, according to Morning Consult.
Americans generally show greater net trust in the homegrown Boeing brand than in Europe-based Airbus, its biggest competitor.
But for the second time in five years, U.S. respondents this month showed more confidence in Airbus, according to the report.
The fallout isn’t over
The consequences are probably not over yet, Piacenza said.
“Expect Boeing’s net confidence metrics to drop a bit more, especially as the brand name remains in the headlines, but not to the extent we saw in March 2019,” he said. “Boeing’s big drop in confidence in March 2019 occurred after two fatal crashes…while the Alaska Airlines 1282 crash was terrifying, it resulted in no fatalities.”
After grounding about 170 Max 9s from flight, the Federal Aviation Administration announced Wednesday that planes that pass inspections can return to the air. Since then, Alaska Airlines, United Airlines and Copa Airlines have resumed flying the plane.
According to the Simple Flying website, 11 airlines currently operate Boeing 737 Max 9s: Aeromexico, Air Tanzania, Alaska Airlines, Copa Airlines, Corendon Dutch Airlines, Flydubai, Islandair, Lion Air, SCAT Airlines, Turkish Airlines and United Airlines.