Scrutiny of Boeing already has given China a leg up in the trade war.
Adamu Assefa, the Ethiopian vice consul in Shanghai, said the visit had been planned two weeks prior, before the crash happened. No airplane orders were signed that day, despite the ambassador’s praise. “Ethiopian Airlines is its own company,” Assefa said. “It's the company’s own right to purchase either Boeing or Airbus or Comac.”
Just three days before the Ethiopian Airlines crash, Boeing’s chief executive said at an aviation summit in Washington that Chinese purchases of Boeing aircraft could be part of a deal to shrink the trade deficit and end the U.S.-China trade war. “China uses access to its market definitely to reward friends, to punish those whose behaviors, policies and practices they don’t like and they have not been bashful about that,” he said.
China is expected to overtake the U.S. as the world’s largest aviation market by 2022. Boeing has predicted that China will need to buy 7,000 more planes worth $1.1 trillion by 2036. While Boeing and Airbus jostle to supply those planes, China has also been trying to build its own models, the latest of which is the Comac C919.
A federal investigation of Boeing and the FAA is now underway, as reports from within the aviation industrywith insufficient training, additional charges for crucial safety features, and the FAA outsourcing aircraft certification to Boeing itself. “China has to meet international standards. With the C919 airplane, they want to get European and American certifications. So the demands are really high,” he said. “In America, the Boeing company is checking their own standards. Is that appropriate?”China’s safety record is partially derived from China’s political structure, which gives the CAAC authority to intervene with airlines as it wants without threat of legal backlash.
But that authoritarian heavy-handedness is also a stumbling block to China’s global aviation ambitions, especially in an industry where transparency and accountability are paramount. “People in the aviation industry know that the Chinese government can order manufacturers to do or not do something,” Rehfeldt said. Rule of law and free press are crucial to upholding accountability processes, he said, which are what Boeing and the FAA are undergoing at the moment.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Boeing drops on report FBI is joining criminal investigation into certification of Boeing 737 Max
Read more »
Pilot: Boeing has lost my trustAlthough the Boeing 737 Max will be re-engineered and thoroughly scrutinized so it can fly again safely, the plane will be forever blemished by its history, writes Les Abend. For Abend and other pilots, trust in manufacturer Boeing has been seriously eroded.
Read more »
Explainer - Boeing 737 MAX: What to expect at Capitol Hill, Boeing meetingsWednesday will be a pivotal day for aircraft maker Boeing Co and federal aviatio...
Read more »
China not taking Boeing 737 MAX 8 airworthiness certificate applicationsChina's civil aviation regulator has stopped taking applications for Boeing...
Read more »
Airbus lands a massive deal with China as Boeing battles its 737 Max crisisAs Boeing struggles with the 737 Max crisis, its big rival Airbus has announced that it has reached a deal to sell 300 passenger jets to Chinese airlines
Read more »
China to buy 300 Airbus planes in a huge blow to BoeingThis comes at a bad time for the U.S.'s trade dispute with China.
Read more »
China birth rates fall in several regions in 2018: China DailyChina's birth rate in several regions, including the capital Beijing, fell ...
Read more »
Indonesia crash revelations raise pressure on Ethiopia investigationThe world's biggest planemaker Boeing faced growing obstacles on Wednesday ...
Read more »
Opinion | Is the Pilot or Robot the Problem?Opinion: Aviation faces a turning point on automated flight after a Boeing tragedy, writes HolmanJenkins
Read more »
Exclusive: Lion Air pilots scoured handbook in minutes before crash - sourcesThe pilots of a doomed Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX scrambled through a handbook to u...
Read more »