Group in crisis

Can Boeing still be trusted? Reasons for the crash

An expert examines a two-month-old Boeing 737 Max, in which a piece of the cabin wall flew off at the beginning of January after take-off at an altitude of several kilometers.

(Bild: 2024 NTSB)

The US aircraft manufacturer Boeing was once the undisputed leader in civil aviation. It swallowed up US competitors such as McDonell Douglas and had a comfortable lead over its EU rival Airbus for a long time. But then Boeing got new management. It made decisions that are still damaging the aircraft manufacturer today - and are causing more and more passengers to doubt the safety of its aircraft. Krone+ analyzes how this came about - and which models passengers should avoid.

Boeing's civilian passenger aircraft are actually workhorses of global aviation, with the short and medium-haul 737 model in particular being used by many airlines around the world - in various stages of modernization since the 1960s. Due to the large number of jets in operation, accidents have occurred time and again. However, following a series of breakdowns with the new 737 Max model, Boeing has slipped into a deep crisis of confidence in the last three years. The causes date back almost a quarter of a century and began shortly after the takeover of McDonell Douglas.