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Aviation doesn't work that way. Airlines have direct aftermarket relationships with all of the OEMs making the components on their airplanes. From a certificati

Aviation doesn't work that way. Airlines have direct aftermarket relationships with all of the OEMs making the components on their airplanes. From a certification and warranty standpoint, Boeing is the design authority, and if there is an FAA mandated fix for 737 RAs, Boeing will have a role to play. Whether Boeing is responsible financially or logistically for the fix depends on the nature of the failure (is it limited to the component or is it a systems engineering issue) as well as the contracts Boeing has with their supply chain and their airline customers.

manquer 5y ago
That doesn't seem to be practical. Maybe for some big parts like engine airlines have direct relationships but all parts including radar altimeters ? An modern commercial plane has tens of thousands of suppliers supplying millions of parts. No airline [1] could even imagine to have the staff to manage OEM relationships with that many indirect suppliers. That is what you pay Boeing for. If that was the case no airline could afford to buy more than 1 type of plane or certainly not more than one manufacturer, you would need to handle all the suppliers in the industry?! it would be incredibly inefficient to do this for them individually . --- [1] Maybe United , American or Delta could have that kind of staff, but given the airlines operating margins in the last 2-3 decades even that seems unlikely
- deleted 5y ago
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- theYipster 5y ago
  Commercial aviation works the way it works regardless of whether you think its practical. And you're grossly overstating how many suppliers are on a commercial aircraft. There are in total an average of 30 tier-1s on a modern airframe, and yes, airlines are expected to work with all of them. Radio Altimeters are typically made by avionics suppliers i.e. Collins, Thales, or Honeywell for Part-25 commercial airliners.
- p_l 5y ago
  Even a private owner can effectively have (if not direct, then through agents) connections straight to OEMs, bypassing original airplane vendor. There's a reason why the only time two airplanes are identical is when they roll from assembly line as part of the very same order with same spec, and never again.

manquer 5y ago

That doesn't seem to be practical. Maybe for some big parts like engine airlines have direct relationships but all parts including radar altimeters ? An modern commercial plane has tens of thousands of suppliers supplying millions of parts. No airline [1] could even imagine to have the staff to manage OEM relationships with that many indirect suppliers. That is what you pay Boeing for. If that was the case no airline could afford to buy more than 1 type of plane or certainly not more than one manufacturer, you would need to handle all the suppliers in the industry?! it would be incredibly inefficient to do this for them individually . --- [1] Maybe United , American or Delta could have that kind of staff, but given the airlines operating margins in the last 2-3 decades even that seems unlikely

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
theYipster 5y ago
Commercial aviation works the way it works regardless of whether you think its practical. And you're grossly overstating how many suppliers are on a commercial aircraft. There are in total an average of 30 tier-1s on a modern airframe, and yes, airlines are expected to work with all of them. Radio Altimeters are typically made by avionics suppliers i.e. Collins, Thales, or Honeywell for Part-25 commercial airliners.
p_l 5y ago
Even a private owner can effectively have (if not direct, then through agents) connections straight to OEMs, bypassing original airplane vendor. There's a reason why the only time two airplanes are identical is when they roll from assembly line as part of the very same order with same spec, and never again.