New York (AFP)

David Calhoun, the new Boeing boss, sharply criticized his predecessor in an interview with the New York Times published on Thursday, and suggests that the pilots of Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air would also be partly responsible for the accidents of the 737 MAX having claimed a total of 346 lives.

Calhoun, who took office on January 13, says he inherited a situation far worse than he imagined: strained relations with the airlines, broken ties with the authorities. international aviation and the need to appease President Donald Trump, whose economic record is somewhat undermined by the setbacks of the 737 MAX which affect manufacturing activity in the United States.

"It's worse than I imagined, honestly," said Calhoun, referring to the problems he faces. "It reflects the weakness of the previous leadership," he added.

His predecessor Dennis Muilenburg was sacked in December, after a crisis management deemed calamitous. Its relations with the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA), the main regulator of Boeing, had reached a point of no return, had assured AFP in January regulatory sources.

Mr. Calhoun, however, is no stranger to the old management since he has been a member of the board of directors since 2009, two years before the development of the MAX, two close accidents of which killed 346 people led to his immobilization. ground since March 13, 2019. Boeing is currently working on the changes required by the regulators to obtain a return to service for this flagship aircraft.

- Backup plan -

"The Boards of Directors believe in a general manager until they no longer believe in it," defends Mr. Calhoun, who had been promoted to chairman of the board last October. He had immediately defended Mr. Muilenburg, who was criticized by American politicians, the families of the victims and the pilots.

"We had a back-up plan (...) I was the back-up plan," he said now, accusing his predecessor of having increased production rates even though the suppliers were not ready.

"I will never be able to know what motivated Dennis, if it was the share price which went up, went up or then if it was to beat the competitor on the new increase of rate" of production, advance Mr. Calhoun, clearly taking his distance.

Calhoun and the rest of Boeing's board of directors had never questioned Mr. Muilenburg's strategy, yet denounced by analysts who deplored the zero cost culture adopted since the 2000s.

"If we've been complacent in any way, maybe, maybe not; I don't know," he says. "We supported a general manager who wanted to take risks, and whose pedigree suggested that he would do well by doing so."

If the first conclusions of the investigations showed that the MCAS anti-stall system was one of the main causes of the accidents of Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines, Mr. Calhoun suggests that the pilots of the two planes would also have a share of responsibility.

These two companies "are those where the pilots are very far from having the same experience as in the United States", he says, refusing to elaborate further if the journalists want to quote him.

This line of defense, which consists in blaming part of the fault on the pilots, is similar to that used by Dennis Muilenburg in the first days after the Ethiopian Airlines accident.

© 2020 AFP