Trust in Boeing Plummets After Safety Incidents

Boeing’s problems are snowballing: After a panel blowout at the start of the year, the aircraft manufacturer has experienced a trail of safety issues, including loose bolts, an engine fire, a tyre falling off one of their jets and a technical problem which led to a sudden loss of altitude midair and injured at least 50 passengers. In the same week as several of the incidents, Boeing whistleblower, John Barnett, 62, who had been in the process of giving evidence in a lawsuit against the company, was found dead from a “self-inflicted” wound in a South Carolina car park, according to the Charleston County coroner's office. 

Against a backdrop of questions over what’s going on with Boeing, Morning Consult carried out a survey on how public trust in the aircraft giant has changed with the new developments.

It found that between Q4 of last year and January 1-February 28 of 2024, net trust had dipped among respondents by 14 percentage points. Net trust is defined as the share of respondents who trust a brand minus the share who distrust a brand.

As the following chart shows, the biggest change was among business travelers, with a 26 percentage point difference between the two survey waves. According to the online polling company, this is partly due to business flyers having historically had more trust in Boeing than other groups, which means there was more room to fall.

Nicki Zink, an analyst at Morning Consult, adds that while Boeing’s reputation has dipped, this has not spread to the wider airline industry and that net trust in airlines has even seen an uptick as the spring break season approaches.