Airbus is having another very good news cycle

That giant sucking sound? It’s a 737 Max. [Bloomberg]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, the true workhorse of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - Boeing [lost]( an important door. - NYC snow [didn't]( stick to the floor. - The Red Sea [is]( a dangerous shore. - Singapore [wants]( to be less of a bore. That Giant Sucking Sound? It’s the Plane. You know those sad bags of SunChips they always hand out on planes? They’re almost negative calories, I bet. The struggle to quietly open up the package — which is often inflated in the low cabin pressure — without disturbing the stranger sitting next to you must cancel out the four mini chips and few pinches of cheese dust you inhale afterward, right? [This passenger]( — who TikToked her in-flight chip explosion last month — would surely agree. But those aboard Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 didn’t get a chance to indulge in complimentary snacks. Minutes into their ascent from Portland on Friday evening, an auxiliary exit door that was meant to be sealed shut blew straight off the plane, apparently taking [a boy’s shirt](, [a teddy bear](, [an iPhone]( and god knows what else with it. It’s a miracle that not one of the 171 passengers and six crew members lost a limb. The aircraft in question — a brand-new Boeing 737 Max-9 — was “supposed to be the safest plane in the world,” Brooke Sutherland [writes]( (free read). But after this weekend’s emergency landing, [nobody]( wants to book a flight on the jet, especially [not a window seat](. This isn’t Boeing’s first PR nightmare. In the late 2010s, two 737 crashes killed a combined 346 people, prompting a global grounding of the aircraft. Although the FAA allowed the Max [to return]( to US skies a little less than two years later, Brooke says the Alaska Airlines blowout points to pervasive flaws. “When passengers board planes, they should be prepared for possible delays,” she writes. “They should not be prepared for the plane to literally come apart in front of their eyes.” Last night, the National Transportation Safety Board said the door’s plug was found in [the backyard]( of a Portland schoolteacher named Bob. The iPhone, too — which miraculously survived the 16,000-foot tumble — was found in pristine condition, in what Kyla Scanlon [says]( might be Apple’s greatest ad of all time. The whereabouts of the teddy bear remain a mystery. But back to Boeing: The FAA ordered a temporary grounding of the Max 9, and inspections are underway to get to the root of the problem. Just this afternoon, United Airlines released a statement saying it found [loose bolts]( in multiple jets. “It’s still unclear exactly why the fuselage panel ripped off soon after takeoff, although early evidence points to a manufacturing glitch or oversight rather than a design problem,” Brooke writes in [a second column]( (also a free read). The air cabin is [pressurized]( so that humans can breathe just as easily in the sky as they can on land — hence [chip bags]( and [water bottles]( occasionally exploding mid-flight. Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems makes the body of the jet, which means that it would have been responsible for installing the exit doors, both the usable ones and the plugged ones. But Boeing is also tasked with running quality-control checks on pressurization. Somewhere along the line, someone missed something in the safety inspection, and the FAA must get to the bottom of it before allowing the particular model back into the skies. But the 737 Max 8 — which Brooke describes as “the true workhorse of this family of jets” — is still flying and not under scrutiny. Although travelers may be more comfortable boarding an Airbus, Brooke says there simply are not enough narrow-body jets for that to happen. “For now, Boeing, its customers and the flying public are likely all stuck with the Max.” So fasten those seatbelts and get ready to pay for premium economy. Those [aisle seats]( might go faster than a mini bag of SunChips. Bonus In-Flight Reading: - America still has [a pilot shortage](, but the situation is becoming more complicated by FedEx cutbacks. — Brooke Sutherland - China’s state-owned [aircraft manufacturer]( hasn’t made much foreign progress, but Boeing’s woes may change that. — Tim Culpan Snow Days One holiday during my childhood, my sister and I got a pet hamster. We named him “Slushey,”[1](#footnote-1) because his fur was a messy mixture of white, brown and gray hairs … similar to the “slush” we were used to seeing on our sidewalks. Although Slushey now resides in a cardboard box buried by the driveway (RIP, little guy), I always think of him when it snows in New York. If you’re lucky enough to have ever taken a frolic around the city after a fresh snowfall, you’ll know that it is intoxicatingly beautiful and romantic. But that sensation lasts for all of five seconds. After that, the city becomes coated in a salty brown sludge, the namesake of my beloved hamster. Yet that hasn’t happened in nearly two years. At this point, the only time I think of Slushey is when [I log into]( the family Netflix account. Although portions of the state of New York were slammed with heavy snow this weekend, New York City got barely enough [flurries]( for an acceptable Instagram post. We’ve now gone [694]( days without at least one inch of snowfall. Mark Gongloff, who [looks forward]( to snow “about as much as you look forward to outpatient surgery,” isn’t personally bothered by the dry spell. But for those who enjoy sledding, [skiing and/or snowboarding](, the past few years have been a literal [wet blanket](. “Only about a fifth of the country was covered in snow before this weekend’s storm, the lowest in more than a decade,” he writes. Take one look at this map, and you’ll see how that type of hot weather isn’t some meteorological anomaly: In Europe, too, the winter season has grown mild. Although the absence of a chill is sadly another sign of global warming, Javier Blas [says]( there is a plus side to it. “The warmth is an economic gift, easing inflation in a continent battling an energy crisis for the third consecutive winter. The loser is Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has used an energy windfall over the last two years to finance his war in Ukraine,” he writes. All around the world, the ice [is melting](. “At the rate we’re cooking the planet, this is all just a taste of what’s to come,” Mark writes. So get those [ski runs]( in while you can. Mud season might be here sooner than you — and [Noah Kahan]( — think. Odd Jobs Have you ever thought about all the people who have to have weird jobs because Elon Musk is Elon Musk? Sure, he probably has a chef who makes him breakfast and an assistant who picks up his dry cleaning, just like any run-of-the-mill billionaire. But only Elon Musk has a court-ordered lawyer who [reviews]( his draft tweets to make sure there’s nothing material and misleading about Tesla. And don’t forget the SpaceX employee in charge of regularly and randomly drug-testing the Tesla CEO like he’s on [an episode]( of Suits: “What if he says no?” Matt Levine asks. “What if he hands you back the cup and it is just full of cocaine? What are you going to do about it? You work for him and he is not, like, a chill and understanding guy.” Although Musk’s attorney [asserts]( that he “has never failed a test,” this [Wall Street Journal story]( about him engaging in activities while under the influence of LSD, cocaine, ecstasy, psychedelic mushrooms and ketamine — to the point where people close to him are “concerned it could cause a health crisis” — says otherwise. Regardless of whether any of this is true or not, Matt says Musk’s career “is a long experiment to prove that, if you are successful enough, the regular laws do not apply to you. I assume that if Musk walked into the office of the secretary of defense and snorted a bag of coke in front of him, no government contracts would be canceled.” Read [the whole thing]( for free. Telltale Charts Last week, when the US and its allies sent the Houthi rebels a “[final warning](” to try and stop them from flinging missiles and drones at precious cargo in the Red Sea, two countries were conspicuously absent. Instead of presenting a united front with Europe, France and Spain chose to exercise extreme caution. “Wanting to avoid escalation in a powder-keg region is wise,” Lionel Laurent [writes](. “But the result is a twofold problem: Europe’s strategic backyard is becoming a more dangerous place, and Europeans aren’t doing enough to mount their own united response.” Although the world has [no shortage]( of [opinions]( about Taylor Swift —or her cat, which somehow has [a higher net worth]( than [Travis Kelce]( — why not add one more into the mix? In her latest column, Karishma Vaswani says there’s a [Swift-sized hole]( in Singapore’s tourism industry. “In 2018, the island was voted one of the least exciting cities in the world,” she writes. Can the Eras Tour help the Lion City ditch its dull reputation? Karishma says there’s “still much work to be done on Singapore’s journey to coolness,” but the pop star’s six shows — in a stadium that holds [55,000]( in a city of less than six million people — is a start. Further Reading Lloyd Austin’s lack of transparency about [his hospitalization]( is unacceptable. — Nia-Malika Henderson Over 50,000 more people [died in the UK]( last year above the normal rate. Where’s the NHS? — Martin Ivens Three years after the Jan. 6 insurrection, [justice]( is being meted out. — Mary Ellen Klas Conservatives, please don’t make [US public schools]( more like Harvard. — Matthew Yglesias Germany’s government is in [a financial pickle]( of its own making. — Chris Bryant The UK's [economic outlook]( is riding on Rishi Sunak’s election politics. — Mohamed A. El-Erian We need new ways of thinking about how politics shapes [economic policy](. — Tyler Cowen It’s time to ship all your [unwanted presents]( back to those retailers. — Leticia Miranda ICYMI The second-largest US [radio company]( is filing for bankruptcy. Apple is launching its [Vision Pro headset]( next month. [Divorce rumors]( are swirling around Bill Belichick and the Patriots. Kickers POV: Your best friend gets [stuck in a vase]( at your brother’s wedding. How many robots does it take to [straighten]( a candle wick? Kamala Harris created [a signature candle]( scent. The [mouse in the house]( likes to keep things clean. (h/t Mark Gilbert) Jacob Elordi’s [Bath Water]( got splashed all over the red carpet. Notes: Please send [candles]( and feedback to Jessica Karl at jkarl9@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Threads](, [TikTok](, [Twitter](, [Instagram]( and [Facebook](. [1] Yes, I know the name Slushey is grammatically incorrect. But I was four, so please blame my older sister. Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. Want to sponsor this newsletter? [Get in touch here](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Opinion Today newsletter. 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