FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Safety and quality problems uncovered at Boeing (NYSE:) after a door plug blew out earlier this year could undermine travelers’ confidence in flying, a top executive at rival Airbus said.
Christian Scherer, CEO of Airbus’s commercial aircraft division, told German weekly WirtschaftsWoche that the problems were a “burden for the entire industry.”
“Boeing’s problems may cause even more people to question how safe flying really is,” Scherer said.
Boeing has been under increasing pressure from factory controls since Jan. 5, when an in-flight door plug tore off its best-selling 737 MAX series aircraft in an incident blamed on missing bolts.
Scherer rejected claims that Airbus might raise prices on its own planes because of Boeing’s problems, adding that pricing was driven solely by demand outstripping supply and that it was difficult to predict how things would go in the future.
“I dare say that a weakening competitor can behave relatively unpredictably. If a company unwittingly ends up with dozens of planes in inventory, it could launch a major fire sale.”