Boeing brand recovery shaken as China Eastern plane crash thrusts it back into spotlight

Boeing has been thrust into headlines once again, following the news of the China Eastern Airlines plane crash yesterday.

The plane was carrying 123 passengers and nine crew members on board, and rescue workers have found no sign of survivors so far. The airline is currently investigating the crash and no conclusion has been reached.

Since the fatal incident, China has grounded the Boeing 737-800 model planes. Three years ago, China was also one of the first markets to ground the 737 MAX after crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. According to Bloomberg, China has close to 1,200 737-800 planes.

Meanwhile, Boeing has issued a statement saying that it is contact with the US  National Transportation Safety Board and its technical experts are prepared to assist with the investigation led by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). "Our thoughts are with the passengers and crew of China Eastern Airlines Flight MU 5735," it added. Boeing’s stock dropped by more than 4% on the back of the news.

The mention of the Boeing brand has increased tremendously since the incident. According to media intelligence platform CARMA, there were over 191,000 mention of Boeing on social media over the last 24 hours, a spike from the average 20,000 mentions of Boeing per day prior to the plane crash.

Among the mentions in the last 24 hours, 39.6% of them were found to be negative, with keywords such as "Boeing", "China", "airlines" and "crashed" driving most of the mentions. 

According to statistics from Digimind from 1 January to 20 March prior to the crash, the majority of the audience sentiment surrounding Boeing were positive (54%) while 28% were negative. Meanwhile, conversations around Boeing peaked on 28 February. Overall, there were 387k conversations around the brand and 656k mentions.

Before the fatal crash in China, general sentiment on Boeing appeared to lean towards the positive, with conversations centred around the company’s voluntary suspension of operations in Russia following the Russia-Ukraine war, alongside other companies such as Airbus, Apple, ExxonMobil, and Ford.

However, following the crash on 21 March, positive sentiment plummeted among the online community. Coupled with Netflix’s recent release of the documentary: “Downfall: The Case Against Boeing”, the deadly accident had netizens expressing their disappointment and concerns surrounding the company’s credibility. Digimind found that the majority of the sentiments (85%) were negative and only 6% were positive.

Many also took to social media to discuss about the incident, with speculations revolving around the cause of the crash, be it due to human error, engine malfunction, or even possible defects within the plane’s infrastructure. According to Digimind, comments were also split regarding accountability, with some believing that the airline should not be blamed for the incident if it was solely due to human error.

Meanwhile according to Meltwater data, online sentiments were largely negative and conversations were largely on Twitter. 

Kelvin Koh, commercial director of Truescope Singapore said on 21st March 2022, the Keyword hits for Boeing increased to almost 10,000 due to the crash, and Twitter in Thailand also contributed highly to the discussions on Boeing.

The news of the crash also comes shortly after Netflix released a documentary Downfall: The Case Against Boeing. The documentary centres on an investigation into the two Boeing 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed 346 people. The Boeing 737-800 is the predecessor model of the Boeing 737 MAX. 

The crisis saw the brand ousting its then CEO Dennis Muilenburg in 2020, who left the firms with US$62 million in compensation and pension benefits. During his departure the company also shared that “Upon his departure, Muilenburg received the benefits to which he was contractually entitled and he did not receive any severance pay or a 2019 annual bonus.”

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