'Critical malfunction' on Boeing jet leaves Anthony Blinken stranded at Davos
The mechanical problems seen lately in Boeing aircraft is apparently not limited to commercial airliners, as Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was also recently sidelined due to problems with his Boeing jet.
Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that Blinken was "stranded" in Davos, Switzerland after the modified Boeing 737 jet transporting the US' top diplomat experienced a "critical malfunction." Mechanics noted an oxygen leak rendered the aircraft "unsafe to fly," forcing Blinken and his entourage to split up, with Blinken taking a smaller jet back to the US, and his team flying commercial.
This marks yet another high-profile safety incident for Boeing, which had several of its 737 Max 9 jets grounded by the FAA after a viral incident earlier this month. On January 5, an Alaska Airlines flight experienced a sudden blowout of a door plug while 16,000 feet in the air above Oregon, prompting several passengers to sue both Boeing and the airline.
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The Washington state-based aircraft manufacturing company has been in the spotlight in recent years for its jets' questionable safety. A total of 346 people were killed over the course of two Boeing jet crashes in 2018 and 2019, and another 2018 incident in which a woman was killed after being sucked out of the plane when an engine explosion shattered a window in mid-flight. According to Lever News, Boeing and its top supplier, Spirit AeroSystems, have lobbied Washington for years to loosen safety regulations in order to cut costs and boost profits.
Lever reported in January on a securities lawsuit in which former Spirit AeroSystems employees accused the company of "deliberately covering up systematic quality control problems, encouraging workers to undercount defects, and retaliating against those who raised safety concerns." While not as well known as Boeing, the aircraft parts supplier posted more than $5 billion in revenue in 2022, and calls itself "one of the world’s largest manufacturers of aerostructures for commercial airplanes."
Boeing, for its part, is one of the biggest lobbying clients in Washington, DC. According to data compiled by Open Secrets, the company has the 9th largest lobbying profile, spending nearly $11 million on lobbying Congress in the 2024 election cycle alone, with roughly an equal amount of money going toward both parties.
READ MORE: 737 Max 9 blowout foretold: Ralph Nader on grandniece's 2019 death and Boeing's negligence
