FRANKFURT, June 1 (Reuters) - Safety and quality

problems exposed at Boeing ( BA ) following a door plug blowout

earlier this year risk shaking travellers' confidence in flying,

a top executive at rival Airbus said.

Christian Scherer, CEO of Airbus' Commercial Aircraft

business, told German weekly magazine WirtschaftsWoche that the

issues were "a burden for the entire industry".

"Boeing's ( BA ) problems could cause more people to question how

safe flying actually is," Scherer was quoted as saying.

Boeing ( BA ) has been under mounting pressure over factory

controls since Jan. 5, when a door plug in mid-flight tore off a

jet of its best-selling 737 MAX series in an incident blamed on

missing bolts.

Scherer rejected claims that Airbus could raise its own jet

prices as a result of Boeing's ( BA ) problems, adding that pricing was

guiding purely by demand outstripping supply and that it was

difficult to predict how things would pan out in the future.

"I dare say that an ailing competitor can behave in a

relatively unpredictable manner. If a company has dozens of

planes in stock involuntarily, it could start a major sell-off."