Boeing's response following recent incidents was 'unsatisfactory,' PR expert says

As Boeing continues to deal with the fallout over safety concerns on some of its planes, the company has had to try and salvage its reputation with both airlines and consumers. Scott Powell, President and CEO of Skyline Corporate Communications Group, joined TheStreet to grade its response to all of the negative press.

Full Video Transcript Below:

REMY BLAIRE: Well, first and foremost, let's talk about Boeing. The company has been in the headlines and those headlines have been negative. So if you could give a grade to the company, what would that look like?

SCOTT POWELL: That's a good question. I would say that as of the past couple of weeks, they've done a much better job handling what I would call a crisis of trust. And I think that's what they've been facing the last few years. I would say up until the last few weeks, I would say they've handled the crisis fairly poorly, in my opinion, because what they really should have done is a top down investigation of the quality control systems at Boeing and they should have put in measures to restore confidence with both investors and the flying public. And the new chairman who has come in, I think is starting to do that. But you had incidents going all the way back to 2018 and from 2018 to 2024. I would say that their response to restore trust was unsatisfactory.

REMY BLAIRE: And speaking of trust, that's a key word here. You're an expert in crisis communications. So given everything that's unfolded just in Q1 of this year, how would you go about addressing the crisis?

SCOTT POWELL: It's been a challenging quarter, shall we say, the first three months of 2024, not just for Boeing, but for airlines that fly Boeing aircraft. Obviously, everyone is familiar with the Alaska Air incident from January 5 and then United Airlines having a number of incidents with both the 737 and also the 787 Dreamliner. So there have been a series of mishaps, shall we call them, scary incidents, a wheel falling off one of the planes, a fuel leak, a fire from a flight from Houston to Fort Myers back in March. So they've certainly had their share of issues as well as some of the carriers that fly Boeing. And I suppose it's unavoidable because most of the American Airlines use Boeing aircraft. It makes sense. These are domestic U.S. airlines purchasing from a domestic airline manufacturer. It makes a lot of sense. But it's definitely been a challenging quarter for Boeing and for a number of airlines that use Boeing aircraft.