“If it’s not Boeing, I’m not going,” was long a cherished slogan of the aircraft giant. Not everyone agrees today: French finance minister Bruno Le Maire said this week that he preferred “flying in Airbus over Boeing — my family too, they care about me”. The quip probably reflected often bitter transatlantic rivalries over plane-making. But five years after twin Boeing 737 Max 8 plane crashes killed 346 people, and two months after a door panel on another model blew out mid-flight, the company’s woes seem to be deepening. As the Southwest Airlines CEO has put it, Boeing needs to “get the issues understood and get the issues fixed”.
“不是波音我不坐。”这是这家飞机巨头长期以来珍视的口号。如今，并非所有人都同意这一点：法国财政部长布鲁诺•勒梅尔(Bruno Le Maire)本周表示，他更喜欢“乘坐空客而非波音——我的家人也一样，他们在乎我”。这句调侃可能反映了大西洋两岸在飞机制造方面常常较为激烈的竞争。但五年前，两架波音737 Max 8飞机坠毁，造成346人死亡；两个月前，另一款波音机型的一块门塞在飞行途中脱落；波音公司的困境似乎正在加深。正如美国西南航空公司首席执行官所说，波音需要“弄清楚问题并解决问题”。