Originally Posted by Hedley

Prior to the crashes both Boeing and Airbus had generated big sales numbers with their re-engined airplanes. Had Boeing designed the max as it is now the fleet wouldn’t have been grounded and they would be generating easy money from a reconfiguration of an existing type. Those sales would have had a big impact on long term profits while they took their time and produced a proper clean sheet design. They cost themselves billions and people died because they went cheap with the original design, not from listening to what their customers wanted. Giving up 8-10 years of sales to Airbus while they got a clean sheet design into production would have also had a long term impact on their finances.