Prospective Boeing passengers are flooding social media with their fears of flying after a string of mechanical failures on its 737 fleets of aircraft.
Following a near-catastrophic Alaska Airlines flight in the new year and three dramatic landings in Alanya, Senegal and Istanbul just this week, the aviation giant is losing the faith of anxious flyers.
Several TikTok users have echoed the fearful sentiment by posting videos captioned things like “when you’re scared of flying and find out you’ll be on a Boeing 737” and “do NOT look at the news if you’re flying this week”.
A TikToker even posted a two-minute guide on “How to avoid flying on a Boeing 737 MAX” citing FlightRadar24 and FlightAware as tools to avoid “Dreamliners catching fire” and the 737 model.
One Twitter/X user said: “Scared to go on a vacation, what if I have to fly in a Boeing!?”
“The quality decline at Boeing seems so extreme these past few years that eventually I’m just going to start getting scared to fly,” wrote another.
Some users have even taken to tweeting airlines that fly versions of the 737 aircraft including Southwest, United and Ryanair, for safety reassurance.
American Airlines was asked: “What assurance can you give to flyers who are flying on your Boeing 737 planes they are safe? Flying soon to Aruba out of Charlotte on a 737-800. Scared to death!! Are these planes being brought in for a maintenance check due to issues with these planes?” by an anxious flyer.
The Independent’s travel correspondent Simon Calder said it is “possible that some potential customers have quietly moved to airlines that use only Airbus A320 series jets” but highlighted that, in numbers, Ryanair who exclusively flies the Boeing 737 is the safest airline in the world.
In a statement on 787 quality, Boeing said: “In 13 years of service, the global 787 fleet has safely transported more than 850 million passengers on more than 4.2 million flights.
“A 787 can safely operate for at least 30 years before needing expanded airframe maintenance routines. Extensive and rigorous testing of the fusalage and heavy maintenance checks of nearly 700 in-service airplanes have found zero evidence of airframe fatigue.
“Under FAA oversight, we have painstakingly inspected and reworked airplanes and improved production quality to meet exacting standards. We are fully confident in the safety and durability of the 787 Dreamliner.”