Boeing will take years to recover from the latest safety crisis, its largest customer has warned.
Tim Clark, president of luxury airline Emirates, has said the plane maker will struggle to get back on track following the mid-air explosion on an Alaska Airlines flight.
At a conference last night in Dubai, Clark said: “As of now, this will be a five-year hiatus.” “I don’t think they will recover their production line.”
Emirates is Boeing’s largest customer in terms of jumbo jets.
The comments come after Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary warned that airfares could rise this summer following the current turmoil at Boeing.
Long haul: Emirates chairman Tim Clark has said Boeing will struggle to get back on track
Its safety record was again in the spotlight in January after a piece of the plane broke off during an Alaska Airlines flight.
Investigators said bolts were missing after the repair work.
The US giant revealed it had burned through £1bn a month in the first quarter of this year after slowing production and shelling out £347m in compensation.
Shares have fallen nearly a third since the Alaska Airlines incident.