On the 12th of June 2025, an Air India plane took off from Ahmedabad at 1:40 pm. It crashed within 1 minute and more than 250 people died in this accident. Only one passenger on the plane survived. Soon after, startling facts began to emerged. The crashed flight was Air India’s 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, manufactured by Boeing. The Ahmedabad Air India crash was the first time this model of the Boeing aircraft became a victim of an accident.
As the speculations about the potential causes of the deadly crash flooded social media, the history of accidents involving Boeing aircrafts began to be discussed. The incidents of Boeing playing with the rules of the US government and making rules according to its own in the last few years also flashed in the mind. Currently, the black box of the Dreamliner that died in the Ahmedabad accident has been sent to America. It will be examined there. Only after this, the reasons for the accident will be clear. But before that, the world market has once again come to the attention of Boeing’s old exploits.
The 1997 merger and Boeing’s tarnished reputation
Currently, Boeing the world’s second largest aircraft manufacturing company. Boeing gave the world the first jet passenger plane ‘707’. It had a reputation among the best engineering companies in the world. It gave the first jumbo jet like 747, which played a big role in connecting the world. Boeing became a great company not only in the case of passenger planes but also in the case of military planes. It made giant planes like C-17 Globemaster, which is used by the Indian Air Force today.
However, Boeing and McDonald Douglas merged. Experts say that this merger marked Boeing’s fall from grace. Boeing changed from a company focused on engineering to a company focused on profit and loss. Its focus was no longer on providing the world with the best-made aircraft but on making as much profit as possible. Where earlier employees were asked to be transparent, now they were asked to coverup mistakes.
Due to this, Boeing’s reputation started to tarnish and was no longer a leader in the global market as Airbus defeated it badly. Boeing’s falling reputation can be judged from the fact that in the last 2-3 decades it has not been able to bring any new aircraft model but is making do by experimenting on the old ones. Due to this, hundreds of passengers have lost their lives. Now that Boeing has failed in quality, its focus has been on influencing the rules and policies in America and foreign countries and getting them changed according to its own wishes.
Boeing spending thousands of crores not on innovatioin but lobbying in America
Boeing is an American company and a large part of its income comes from contracts from the US government. Boeing makes many military aircraft for America. Apart from this, the rules and policies of America apply to Boeing. It spends thousands of crores to ensure that these American policies work in its favor.
A report by the US stock market regulator SEC says that Boeing has spent more than $200 million (₹1700 crore+) on lobbying from 2010-2022. $26 million (₹225 crore) has been spent in 2021 and 2022 alone. A report by the SEC itself shows that Boeing has spent more than $320 million (₹2700 crore) on lobbying since 1998. The SEC says that Boeing ranks 9th in terms of spending on lobbying within the US.
Boeing is at number 9 in this arena while in terms of market cap, it is at number 70-80 in America. This simply means that Boeing spends much more than its status on lobbying. Boeing gives money to both the parties of America, i.e. Democrats and Republicans, to bend the rules according to its wishes. This expenditure is apart from its expenditure on lobbying . According to a report, Boeing has spent 43 million dollars (₹3500 crores+) between the years 2004-2024.
Interestingly, Boeing also takes care not to favor one party too much. Reports suggest that Boeing funds both parties almost equally. However, Boeing has given more funding to the Democrats in the past years. This process is called lobbying in the US. Although lobbying is not illegal in the US, but Boeing’s lobbying has taken the lives of 300+ people. This is a black spot in Boeing’s history.
Boeing’s insatiable greed claimed more than 300 lives
Boeing spends thousands of crores on lobbying and parties. Boeing is not a social welfare organization that it spends so much money for nothing. All this is done for profit. A few years ago, more than 300 lives were lost due to Boeing’s greed and avoiding lobbying. This story begins around 2010. Boeing, which once ruled the world’s aircraft market, was constantly being defeated by Airbus, a company from Europe. The secret of Airbus’ success was its new A320 Neo aircraft.
These were more modern than Boeing’s 737 aircraft and consumed less fuel. Due to this, airlines were constantly placing orders with Airbus and Boeing was losing. Boeing thought of making a new plane. But Boeing did not want to invest money in the development of a new plane. In such a situation, it came up with a new idea. It planned to give a new look to the Boeing 737 designed in the 1960s. Boeing named this new plane 737 Max.
Boeing then made some modifications in the design of the plane, including changes made in the wings of the plane as well as in the cockpit of the plane. In addition, its landing gear was also changed. New Leap-1 engines were also installed in the new plane which saved 14% more fuel. These engines were bigger than the old engines. While the old engines were installed under the wings of 737, the new engines were shifted to the wings due to their being bigger. If this was not done, the engines were hitting the ground.
These modifications, however, backfired for Boeing. The new engines were heavier than the old ones. Due to this, the front part of the plane would rise more in the air, which was a problem for controlling the plane. Boeing found a solution to this and introduced a system called MCAS. MCAS would automatically press the front part of the plane downwards and this was done through sensors. As soon as the sensor of the plane sensed that the front part of the plane was rising too much in the air, it would immediately bring it down.
While Boeing was popular and secured thousands of orders, the company committed a fraud. Boeing had completely changed the 737. But it claimed that it did not need to get certification again from the US aircraft regulator FAA. It is to be noted that getting certification for every system of the plane is a big expense and this would also increase the delivery timeline of the plane. Apart from this, pilots would also have to be trained on the new systems.
To avoid all this, Boeing claimed to the FAA that it was basically an old plane and hence did not need to get separate certification. It also took advantage of loopholes in the laws. Boeing built a completely new plane but did not allow the FAA to certify its systems. Boeing even lobbied on a large scale in the US and effectively got a law passed in 2018.
In 2018, the US Parliament passed the FAA Reauthorization Act after strong lobbying by Boeing . This law gave the aircraft manufacturing companies in the US the right to self-certify the technologies they developed. This law limited the powers of the FAA. This law was directly related to Boeing’s 737 Max program. Now Boeing has openly got the right to sell the new systems of 737 Max aircraft without any external certification.
Following this, Boeing continued to sell 737 Max at a rapid pace. Airlines from all over the world also bought these planes. On October 29, 2018, a similar plane of Indonesia’s Lion Air crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff. 189 passengers and crew members were killed in this accident. No one could understand why a new plane crashed like this. The pilot who died in this accident was an Indian.
Just 6 months after this incident, in March 2019, an Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed minutes after taking off from the capital Addis Ababa. In this accident too, 157 people, including the crew, were killed. After this, Boeing’s problems began to rise and its 737 planes were grounded all over the world. When both accidents were investigated, it was found that these accidents happened due to the MCAS sensor that presses the Boeing plane downwards.
It was revealed that in both the accidents, MCAS continued to push the plane down while the pilots kept trying to fly it. The pilots failed in this and this faulty system brought the plane down. When the pressure increased after the investigation of both the accidents, Boeing admitted that it had hidden this information. Boeing admitted that it had not told the pilots about this new system.
Boeing itself had certified this MCAS system as safe. Later, this became the reason for the death of 346 people. FAA could not conduct the safety check of 737 Max, for this it had already made a law. For this it had spent thousands of crores and had people in the US Parliament on its side. The result of this lobbying by Boeing was the death of 346 people and crew, thousands of planes being grounded and airlines incurring losses of thousands of crores.
Boeing’s lobbying also extends to military aircraft
Besides manufacturing passenger planes, Boeing also makes military planes. One-fourth of the planes in the US Air Force are manufactured by Boeing. The aviation giant has on many occasions secured contracts in the US by exerting pressure through its lobbying. A big example of this was the supply of refueller planes to the US Air Force to refuel planes in mid-air. This entire competition started around the year 2000. In this, tanker planes built on Boeing’s 767 planes were first selected.
However, as allegations of corruption emerged, Boeing was sidelined. Airbus won the re-competition and its A330 MRTT was to be supplied to the US Air Force. However, Boeing created a ruckus over this and started lobbying to get this contract cancelled. Later, only KC-46 made by Boeing joined the US Air Force . However, this was not the first time when Boeing had blocked Airbus’ entry into the US.
In the 1970s, Airbus wanted to enter the US after its success in Europe, but even then Boeing kept the US government pressurizing it. Boeing is credited with keeping Airbus out of the US market for a long time. However, as soon as Boeing goes to other countries, it starts using its financial strength and lobbying to get contracts . In one such case, Boeing had made a deal of $37 billion (₹3 lakh crore+) with Saudi Arabia.
However, the relations between America and Saudi Arabia deteriorated after this. This controversy was related to the murder of American citizen and journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey. America was continuously pressuring Saudi Arabia. In response to this, Saudi Arabia changed its stand regarding this deal. Boeing came into action after this and immediately started talking to the US government and the Saudi government to save this deal.
Be it keeping the F/A-18 aircraft in continuous service within the US or lobbying for the F-15EX aircraft , Boeing has always worked in this direction.
Boeing’s lobbying attempts in India
Unsurprisingly, Boeing has also been making lobbying efforts in India. Boeing tried hard to sell aircraft for India’s second aircraft carrier Vikrant. Boeing wanted to sell F/A-18 aircraft for this. For this, Boeing even gave big advertisements in newspapers in India. However, the Indian Navy chose the Rafale-M aircraft made in France, considering its needs. The deal for this has also been finalised recently.
Our F/A-18 #SuperHornet demonstrates the ability to operate from @indiannavy aircraft carriers during its successful and safe launch from a ski-jump ramp. pic.twitter.com/92V14EXV9M
— Boeing India (@Boeing_In) December 21, 2020
Boeing has earlier also tried to sell the F-21 aircraft to India. Actually this is the F-16 fighter aircraft used by the Pakistani Air Force. Boeing tried to tell the Indian Air Force that the F-21 is completely different from the F-16 aircraft used by Pakistan. However, the Air Force clearly refused to show any interest in this.Indian cosmetics
What stance Boeing will take in the Ahmedabad Air India crash case will be clear in the future. If technical flaws are found in the plane, will Boeing accept them or try to evade accountability using its usual coverup tactics, time will tell this too. However, Boeing’s track record shows that it does not believe much in moral values and prioritises profits.
