Originally Posted by
PerPurumTonantes
As regards Boeing grounding the fleet - legally perhaps they can't force a fleet to be grounded. But if they said "hey guys, we're not happy about the safety", then it would be a pretty ballsy operator who would go against that. And again they would be flying a lot of fresh air around in those cabins.
You'd be surprised what some operators ignore from the manufacturer. Boeing has three classes of Service Bulletin - 'normal', 'significant' (that's not the term they use but I can't recall the exact term off hand), and "ALERT". Years ago I saw some statistics on fleet incorporation within the recommended time (S/B usually say something like 'next 'x' check', 'within 12 months', etc.). For normal service bulletins it was barely over 50%, and for ALERT (which by definition are safety related) it was in the mid 80% range unless it was AD'ed (which most are, especially now days) in which case it was in the mid 90% (but
not 100%).
As for passengers shunning the MAX, racedo's post 9/11 comment is spot on. I recall several people who stated at that time, categorically, they would
never travel by air again but were flying again within a year - most probably don't even remember they said that. Given that probably half the traveling public don't know what kind of aircraft they are on, and will give up 5" of leg room for 3 hours to save $5, the MAX won't have to keep it's nose clean for too long before most people pretty much forget the whole thing.