Boeing plane crash in India: What it means for the aircraft maker

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A London-bound Air India Boeing (BA) 787 Dreamliner aircraft holding 242 passengers and crew crashed in India. Boyd Group International president and Synovus vice president and senior portfolio manager Mike Boyd joins Morning Brief with Brad Smith to discuss the latest.
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An Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed shortly after takeoff on Thursday. Thick plumes of black smoke seen over the airport in video taken by bystanders. 242 passengers and crew members were on board the flight heading to London's Gatwick Airport. The plane crashed into a building housing medical students, according to local media. Aftermath from the scene showed billowing smoke rising over the area and firefighters on charred streets. Air India confirmed the flight was involved in an accident after takeoff in a post on X. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the tragedy heartbreaking beyond words. In a statement Thursday, Boeing said it's in contact with Air India regarding flight 171 and stands ready to support them. Our thoughts are with the passengers, crew, first responders, and all affected. Boeing's safety record has faced scrutiny following two fatal crashes of its 737 Max aircraft in 2018 and 2019 that led to more than 340 deaths. The FAA ordered an inspection of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner back in 2024 after a midair dive on a Latam flight in March injured more than 50 passengers. A whistleblower last year also urged Boeing to ground all 787 Dreamliners worldwide, claiming there were flaws in the plane's assembly. Boeing rejected the claims by the former engineer and said it was fully confident in the plane. Joining me now, we've got Mike Boyd, Boyd Group International President. Mike, thanks for taking some time and hopping on with us this morning. After a tragedy like this, should passengers be worried about flying on Boeing planes? But specifically as we're looking across some of the large plane manufacturing that they do, some of the negligence that's come to be known and the changes that they're making, is it swiftly enough?
It is uh the two aren't really connected at this point in time. You know, there's there's no indication whatsoever, you know, that what that whistleblower brought up and I I looked very heavily at that and what happened today, there's no indication. These airplanes, 10, 11 years old, okay, it's been flying around. So the real issue is should some people feel safe about flying? The answer is absolutely yes. And we'll know more about this in a few days because between the NTSB and the US which is going to be on the scene and the Indian uh uh investigators, we'll we'll have some a pretty good idea of what really did happen with this specific airplane.
We do know as well this year, 75 to 80 deliveries are projected of this 787 Dreamliner versus the 51 in 2024. Just how vastly different is Boeing today versus some of the issues that they faced in 2018, 2019?
Well, in 2018, 2019, let's put it right on the line. They were an incompetently managed airline airplane manufacturer. They didn't know what they were doing. They were looking at stock price. The fact of the matter today, they are much more rationally run air airplane manufacturer. Plus, the FAA is on the scene all the time. Now keep in mind, the FAA was involved with the poor oversight before, but right now, uh there's a lot more going on at Boeing to make sure that they're doing things right because they weren't doing it back in 2019.
There are many more details that we're waiting to come from the crash in India. This also internationally comes at a time where many of the airline operators as well as manufacturers like Boeing are gearing up to head to this International Air Show as well in Paris. How does this perhaps change some of the conversations that take place if if at all?
Well, it it depends on what they were planning to do. If they were doing a a giant, you know, corkscrew flyby of a 787, I think that's canceled right now for that air show. But I think the bottom line of it there it's basically a show and tell of order books. So I don't think it'll have much effect on it at all and Boeing's been through this kind of thing before. You just don't keep bringing it up and bringing it up. So I I think for Boeing sales, it's not going to have an effect unless we find out something catastrophic and I don't think we will.
What are some of the first questions that you imagine regulators and those who are investigating will need to bring to light and hopefully the public get some more answers around?
Well, I think in this case, I mean, they're reportedly, uh the crew did call back with a Mayday saying, we've lost power. And it looked like, you know, from the videos, it's like candid camera everywhere nowadays. It it sort of this pancaked into the neighborhood. So they'll be looking at things like fuel, they'll be looking at things like pilot records, they'll be looking at maintenance records. I'm I say will be, I'll guarantee you they're doing it right now.
Mike, thanks so much for monitoring this story and joining us this morning on short notice as well.
My pleasure, sir. Thank you.