The Federal Government signed an agreement with American aircraft company Boeing on Thursday to help Nigerian airlines lease new aircraft and get maintenance and technical support. But the company has had a handful of serious safety issues in the past year alone.
Festus Keyamo, Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, led a delegation of executives of major airlines and other stakeholders in the civil aviation industry in the country to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Seattle, Washington, USA, with The Boeing Company.
The agreements reached by both parties at the meeting include Nigeria being allowed to leverage Boeing’s network of financiers and lessors in order to better position the country’s airlines in the area of acquiring newer brands of the company’s aircraft; benefitting technical support from the multinational company; acquiring advanced knowledge from training in airline operations and business models organised by the company; and allowing the country’s aviators access to data that would enhance better maintenance practices.
The kick-off period of all the agreements reached was, however, not stated in the statement.
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More importantly, and beyond the “gains” Keyamo stated in the MoU reached, there was no mention of Boeing’s assurance, readiness and willingness to prevent the “safety concerns” it had raised in the past year as a world-leading aircraft manufacturing company.
Boeing aircraft have indeed faced major global technical challenges lately.
ALASKA AIRLINE PLANE’S EMERGENCY EXIT BLOWS OFF
Minutes after taking off from Portland, Oregon, USA, on January 8, an unused exit door of a Boeing 737 Max 9 plane belonging to Alaska Airline blew out while in flight.
This forced the pilot of the plane to return to the airport. Boeing had just manufactured the aircraft, as it was only three months old when the incident happened.
When the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) concluded its investigation on the incident, it was found that pilots had reported that the same plane experienced three pressurisation warnings, from cockpit dashboard lights, but the maintenance team declared that it was in good condition to be flown.
LATAM AIRLINES BOEING 787-9 SUDDEN ALTITUDE DROP
In March, 50 passengers on board a Boeing 787-9 Latam Airlines flight from Sydney, Australia, to Auckland, New Zealand, were injured after the plane suddenly “dropped” mid-air.
The plane was said to have experienced a technical issue in mid-air and this led to “strong movements” on board the flight.
Some passengers and crew members were “thrown into the roof” of the plane as it suddenly lost altitude. Ten passengers were hospitalised as a result of the incident. Blood was spotted on the ceiling of the plane after the passengers were evacuated. Latam Airlines, a Chilean multinational airline based in Santiago, said that this was a “technical incident”.
KOREAN AIR BOEING 737 MAX 8 FLIGHT TO TAIWAN
In June, a Korean Air Boeing 737 Max 8 flight flying from Incheon, South Korea, to Taiwan, experienced a fault with the cabin pressurisation system roughly 30 minutes into the flight.
The incident resulted in 15 passengers reporting injuries of hyperventilation and eardrum pain. This aircraft was under five years old. Boeing delivered it to Korean Air in July 2022.
BOEING 737-800 ENGINE COVER TEARS OFF PLANE
The engine cover on a Boeing 737-800 fell off after takeoff in April.
It was a flight going to Houston, Texas, but the pilot managed to land the plane in Denver after a crew report.
Clips on X showed the cover tearing open and exposing the engine to passengers on board.
TYRES FALLING OFF
On two occasions Boeing aircraft lost wheels while operating with passengers on board in 2024.
A United Airlines Boeing 777-200 lost a tyre after takeoff on March 7. The plane was flying to Japan but the pilot had to make a landing at Los Angeles International Airport unplanned.
As the plane took off from San Francisco International Airport, footage showed a tyre separate from the aircraft and drop on the runway.
A Delta Air Lines Boeing 757 aeroplane also lost its nose tyre while taxiing for takeoff in Atlanta, USA, on January 23.
BOEING STARLINER STUCK IN SPACE
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, two National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronauts, have been stuck in space since June, as the reliability of the Boeing Starliner, their spacecraft failed to meet NASA’s strict standards for crewed flight.
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Their journey to space was supposed to last 10 days. Presently, the duo are expected to remain until February 2025.
Due to its unreliability, the Boeing Starliner will return to Earth in September without any astronauts aboard.
BOEING AGREES TO PLEAD GUILTY TO CRIMINAL FRAUD CHARGE
In June, Boeing agreed to plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge stemming from two crashes of 737 Max jetliners that killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019.
During court proceedings, prosecutors accused the American aerospace giant of deceiving regulators who approved the airplane and pilot-training requirements for it.
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The aircraft manufacturer also agreed to pay a $243.6 million fine in connection with the crashes in Indonesia in October 2018 and Ethiopia in 2019.
The 346 passengers and crew members who died in the crashes were aboard two new Boeing Max jets.
The deal also requires Boeing to invest at least $455 million in its compliance and safety programs, going forward.
In August, the Foundation for Aviation Safety, a US campaign group, accused Boeing of concealing electrical faults in its 737 Max aircraft. It claims about 1,000 flying planes may be at risk of electrical failures stemming from production problems.
Interestingly, it is the same Boeing that has a rich history of violations, and questionable compliance and safety practices that the Nigerian government is now in bed with.
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