Clearly not the place for yet another A v B debate, however please indulge me for one minute. No criticism intended, however an observation.
Taking a much wider view, if a comparison between the 737 Max and the Airbus NEO, then the situation clearly illustrates a clear gulf of concurrent outcome created by the US version of Capitalism and Europe’s more multi nation more socialist based systems. I’m sure everyone agrees that It is generally valuable that the world has very different places and there are positives and negatives worldwide, however the Max story starting with the “Jurassic 737” to present day give a very damning illustration to the capitalist model that many see as the only way.
Simplistically speaking the Airbus NEO, compared to the 737 max indicates the depth of difference both in combined gregarious multi nation effort versus a single nation capitalist creep. On every level from the decisions to continue production of the 737 for decades longer than they should, to the financially decided ongoing design upgrades, the implementation, the regulatory relationship and the following actions since the two fatal accidents there’s a catalogue of missed opportunities to make the right decisions.
The world is watching the next moves at Boeing, the regulator and govt interventions very closely.
The dilemma now for Boeing is that they are down a corridor an just about every door has a sign that says “do not follow this path”. The fact the NEO is doing what it says on the tin and generally quite successful, is actually forcing more pressure across the pond. Not to mention the advancements in the Chinese aviation sector.
It is possible that the problem here isn’t Boeing per se, the specific problem is largely theirs, but under a very prescriptive and financially driven set of circumstances what has been revealed is a weakness in the Capitalist system. Akin to the exhaust port on the Death Star.
It is interesting to see what happens next.
I don’t personally think we will see the Max in the skies for a long time yet. The problem in the current economic model in the US is that the obvious correct path - starting afresh, will possibly lose far too much ground in the manufacture of narrow body medium range jet marketplace