The Boeing 737 Max has come under fire after 2 deadly crashes in 5 months - but an aviation expert explains why the aircraft is likely to be successful in the long-run

Boeing

The Boeing 737 Max.

• The Boeing 737 Max has come under intense scrutiny after two deadly crashes in five months.
• While it's important that Boeing and regulators understand why the crashes occurred, the incidents will not prevent the 737 Max from being successful, George Hamlin, president of Hamlin Transportation Consulting, told Business Insider.
• The 737 Max will become a long-term success because the 737 aircraft line accounts for about half of Boeing's value, Hamlin said.
• "You can't afford to cut off half of your product line," he said.

The Boeing 737 Max has come under intense scrutiny after two deadly crashes in five months.

The European Union, China, and Australia have grounded the aircraft, and while the Federal Aviation Administration said on Monday that the aircraft is safe to fly, US lawmakers have urged the agency to reverse that evaluation.

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While it's important that Boeing and regulators understand why the crashes occurred, the incidents will not prevent the 737 Max from being successful, George Hamlin, president of Hamlin Transportation Consulting, told Business Insider.

"This airplane is going to be successful," he said. "This is going to be a footnote on a footnote."

Read more: 'If it's Boeing, I'm not going': People are freaking out about flying on the same plane that has now crashed twice in 5 months

The 737 Max will become a long-term success because the 737 aircraft line accounts for about half of Boeing's value, Hamlin said. The aircraft is too important for Boeing to let it fail.

"You can't afford to cut off half of your product line," he said.

Boeing said on Tuesday that it will introduce updated flight-control software for its 737 Max fleet in the coming weeks, but has not yet said if the aircraft will receive physical changes.

While the loss of life from the crashes involving the aircraft is significant, the crashes represent a very small percentage of the 737 Max's overall performance, Hamlin said.

"From a statistician's standpoint, this is almost trivial. But since human lives are involved, of course, it's not trivial."

For now, it's important that Boeing and the FAA exercise caution as they seek to understand what caused the crashes and make improvements to the 737 Max, even if there are negative financial consequences in the short-term.

"First, you have to know what happened and why. Then, you go forward," Hamlin said.

• Read more:
• Europe has banned the Boeing 737 MAX - a plane that has crashed twice since October
• Everything we know about Ethiopian Airlines' deadly crash of a Boeing 737 Max 8, the second disaster involving the plane in 5 months
• Boeing is going to update the control software on the 737 Max that may cause the plane to nosedive
• Elected officials are calling on the US government to ground the Boeing 737 Max 8 after the plane was involved in 2 deadly crashes

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