(News Bulletin 247) – The European aeronautical group is moving quite clearly in the green this Monday while its American rival saw several of its 737 MAXs being grounded for inspections.

When Boeing grimaces, Airbus smiles somewhat. The European aircraft manufacturer gained 1.4% this Monday on the Paris Stock Exchange around 11 a.m., signing the largest increase in a sluggish CAC 40 (+0.00%). In pre-market on Wall Street, Boeing collapsed by 8.4%.

The progression of the former EADS comes as its American competitor made headlines in the press this weekend for the wrong reasons. It all started on Friday evening with an incident on a 737 MAX 9 operated by Alaska Airlines which led to the detachment of a “door” during takeoff.

“On Friday, an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX suffered a depressurization incident, after a “plug” (replacing an optional emergency exit door) detached from the side of the plane. This “plug” is installed on certain 737 MAX 9 aircraft for which airlines do not intend to use the additional seat capacity permitted by this exit door,” explains Jefferies.

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A probably minor impact but…

This technical error led to the immobilization of several 737 MAX-9s. United Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Aeromexico and the Panamanian company Copa Airlines have grounded their aircraft of this type to inspect them, indicates AFP.

“The FAA (the United States aviation regulator) and EASA (the European Union) published emergency airworthiness directives on Saturday, which provide for grounding, in the event of awaiting inspections, of the 737 MAX 9s presenting the configuration concerned (i.e. equipped with the “plug”), i.e. 171 of the 200 737 MAX 9s delivered by Boeing, including none in Europe, according to EASA”, explains Jefferies.

In terms of costs, these incidents should remain relatively measured on the scale of the American group’s activity. Jefferies estimates that the financial impact could be less than $20 million, and that the technical problem could be resolved quickly.

In addition, “the 737 MAX-9 should represent only 18% of total deliveries of 737 MAX (family which also includes the 737 MAX-7, 737MAX-8 and 737 MAX-10 versions, Editor’s note) from Boeing in 2024, which would constitute a peak, then 9% in 2026”, puts an analyst into perspective.

But this oddity is added to a blacklist for the 737 MAX, all of whose aircraft were grounded in 2019, following two crashes that occurred in 2018 and 2019. The aircraft had been grounded for 20 months.

Last year, Boeing had to carry out inspections on the 737 Max 8, following the identification of a quality problem, that is to say poorly drilled holes on the rear pressure bulkhead. Then, in December, the planemaker asked airlines to inspect new 737 MAXs to check that a bolt had not come loose in the control system.

“All this information suggests that Boeing’s manufacturing quality is lower than that of Airbus,” notes the previously mentioned analyst.

“Boeing especially suffered throughout the weekend from excessively negative publicity. Obviously a ‘readacross’ (a cross-reading, Editor’s note) takes place to the benefit of Airbus which does not have these problems and knows how to assemble”, adds this analyst.

Boeing therefore still appears in a bad light with its 737 MAX, which proves to be very problematic insofar as it is its flagship model in the single-aisle market, much more buoyant than that of wide-body aircraft.