According to the reference news, it was reported on the website of Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao on May 16 that an Indonesian Eagle Airlines aircraft with 468 passengers and crew on board took off from Indonesia and returned to the airport for emergency landing after the engine caught fire shortly after takeoff.
According to reports, Eagle Airlines issued a statement on the 15th stating that the Eagle Airlines 1105 flight to Medina, Saudi Arabia was operated by a Boeing 747-400 aircraft and returned to the Indonesian airport at 17:15 local time on the 15th. All passengers were unharmed.
The CEO of Eagle Airlines said in a statement, "The captain discovered that one of the engines was on fire, and it is now necessary to conduct further inspections to determine if the engine has malfunctioned. Therefore, this decision was made immediately after the plane took off." He said that there were 450 passengers and 18 crew members on board, including pilgrims heading to Medina. All passengers have taken another flight to Saudi Arabia on the same day arranged by Eagle Airlines. The plane involved in the incident has now been grounded for security checks.
Recently, Boeing has been facing numerous issues.
In January of this year, an Alaska Airlines 737 Max aircraft lost a door stopper during flight. Although the incident did not cause serious injury or death, the Federal Aviation Administration quickly grounded aircraft of the same model with the same door stopper, and regulatory agencies began a new investigation into Boeing's production practices.
On the early morning of May 9th, a Boeing 737-300 aircraft of Senegal Airlines crashed off the runway during takeoff at Dakar airport, severely damaged. The accident resulted in 11 injuries, of which 4 were seriously injured.
On May 10th, a United Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft took off from Fukuoka Airport in Japan and urgently returned due to abnormal flaps. There were about 50 passengers and crew members on board, and no one was injured.
On May 12th, a Boeing 747 cargo plane taking off from Narita Airport in Japan temporarily returned and made an emergency landing at Narita Airport due to a hydraulic system malfunction during flight. The incident did not cause any casualties.
This year, multiple whistleblowers have appeared and publicly expressed concerns about Boeing's production safety and product quality issues. In addition, former Boeing employees who were exposed to have production quality and safety issues with Boeing aircraft were found to have mysteriously died.
Some analysts believe that Boeing has experienced a series of safety accidents, indicating that this old aviation giant has encountered problems in multiple aspects such as quality, process, cost control, and innovative technology application.
Due to the safety accidents of the best-selling 737 MAX model this year, Boeing's commercial aircraft business revenue dropped by 30% in the first quarter.
On April 24th, Boeing released its first quarter 2024 results, showing that it achieved a revenue of 16.569 billion US dollars in the first quarter of this year, higher than market expectations and a year-on-year decrease of 8%; The loss was $355 million, compared to a loss of $425 million in the same period last year, which narrowed by 16.47% year-on-year; The net loss attributable to the parent company was $343 million, compared to a loss of $414 million in the same period last year, which narrowed by 17.15% year-on-year.
According to the financial report, there was a significant year-on-year outflow of cash flow in the first quarter. Among them, the operating cash flow was -3362 million US dollars, compared to -318 million US dollars in the same period last year. Free cash flow was -3929 million US dollars, and cash flow consumption was lower than market expectations, compared to -786 million US dollars in the same period last year.
Boeing President and CEO Dave Calhoun stated in his financial report that the first quarter results reflect Boeing's immediate action to slow down production in order to improve the quality of the 737. "We will spend the necessary time strengthening our quality and safety management system, and this work will make Boeing's future stronger and more stable."