SWA goes rogue...
Count
Jon Weaks, the powerful and tell-it-like-it-is president of
Southwest Airlines’ Pilots Association (SWAPA), as pretty fed up with Boeing Co. and the aircraft manufacturer’s handling — so far — of the far-from-resolved 737 MAX crisis.
That was made abundantly clear in a new memo distributed on Wednesday to the more than 8,500 pilots who fly for Southwest Airlines. The Chicago Business Journal obtained a copy of the lengthy memo.
Southwest is the world’s largest operator of the MAX aircraft with 34 in its fleet and hundreds more on order. The MAX was abruptly grounded in the United States on March 13, after two fatal crashes of the MAX within a five-month period that killed nearly 350 people. A Lion Air MAX crashed last October, and an Ethiopian Airlines MAX crashed in February.
Weaks’ new memo to SWAPA pilots makes abundantly clear his mounting frustration with the conflicting information coming out about the MAX and its possible return to service.
Right at the top of his new memo Weaks notes: “With the confusing information coming from the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), national and geopolitics and Chicago-based Boeing’s (NYSE: BA) continued missteps, there is no accurate estimate of when the MAX will return to service. Present projections range from September to December.”
But Weaks was particularly critical of the MAX manufacturer in his missive: “Boeing seems to receive more bad news with every passing week, and still needs to learn how to rebuild trust as well as the airplane. Boeing failed to disclose MCAS initially, failed to build in redundancy, and failed to notify the FAA of issues related to MCAS in a timely manner.” MCAS is the software built into the MAX that is believed to have been a key factor in both fatal crashes of the aircraft.
Though Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenberg publicly apologized for the crashes in a recent interview with CBS News, Weaks still doesn’t like some of the airplane manufacturer’s tactics behind the scenes.
In his memo Weaks said: “In March they (Boeing) expectedly, but reprehensibly, asked to have the venue switched from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois to Indonesia in order to settle the Lion Air Flight 610 accident for minimal amounts. If Boeing’s tactic succeeds, the cases for the families become nearly worthless and a similar strategy might be attempted for the Ethiopian accident as well."
As Weaks surveys where things stand at this juncture in the MAX crisis, he told his SWAPA pilots on Monday he doesn’t think Boeing is anywhere near free and clear yet.
“While there are still questions and issues with each respective airline’s management, training and flight crews, Boeing still has substantial responsibility and liability and will undoubtedly face many legal issues, civilly and perhaps criminally in the United States federal court system," Weaks said. "A requested change of venue (for lawsuits) only exacerbates and continues to harm Boeing’s image and trustworthiness in the eyes of the public and Congress.”