Boeing’s CEO, Dave Calhoun, will step down at the end of the year as part of a management shake-up at the struggling US aircraft giant.
IN SHORT
Boeing chief executive Dave Calhoun to leave as firm faces safety crisis
- The crisis at Boeing has raised scrutiny to its highest level since two crashes of Boeing 737 MAX jets in 2018 and 2019.
- Chairman Larry Kellner to leave the board and be replaced by Steve Mollenkopf.
- Stan Deal, Boeing Commercial Airplanes president and CEO, to retire.
- The head of Boeing’s commercial airlines division to retire immediately.
- The company’s corporate culture has been under scrutiny since the Alaska Airlines incident in January.
- The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ordered an audit of assembly lines at a Boeing factory near Seattle.
- Calhoun described the Alaska Airlines incident as a “watershed moment” for Boeing and called for humility and transparency.
- The company has also faced questions following other potentially dangerous episodes, including an engine fire on a Boeing 747, a Boeing 777 jetliner bound for Japan, and a violent loss of altitude mid-flight from Sydney to Auckland.
Boeing has announced that Chief Executive Officer Dave Calhoun will step down at the end of the year as part of a management shake-up at the embattled United States aircraft manufacturer. The company also announced that Steve Mollenkopf will replace Chairman Larry Kellner on the board. Stan Deal, Boeing Commercial Airplanes president and CEO, will retire, and Stephanie Pope will lead that business. Boeing also announced that the head of its commercial airlines division will retire immediately while its chairman will not stand for re-election.
Calhoun has been under pressure since a near-catastrophic incident in January when a panel on a 737 MAX 9 Alaska Airlines jet blew out 5,000m (16,400ft) above the ground. The incident has raised scrutiny of Boeing to its highest level since two crashes of Boeing 737 MAX jets in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people. Many analysts believe a change in Boeing’s leadership is overdue, as the current crisis stemmed from problems in the firm’s corporate culture that only fresh insight could be able to fix.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has put the company under intense scrutiny and recently ordered an audit of assembly lines at a Boeing factory near Seattle. Investigators say bolts that help keep the panel in place were missing after repair work on the 737 MAX 9 Alaska Airlines jet at the Boeing factory. Last month, the FAA gave Boeing 90 days to come up with a plan addressing quality control issues, saying the company must “commit to real and profound improvements”.
Boeing has also faced questions following several potentially dangerous episodes in addition to the Alaska Airlines incident, including an engine fire on a Boeing 747 shortly after takeoff from Florida in January, a Boeing 777 jetliner bound for Japan having to make an emergency landing shortly after takeoff from San Francisco when a wheel fell off and plunged into an airport parking lot, damaging several cars.
The Federal Aviation Administration said earlier this month that a six-week audit of the 737 Max production process at Boeing and its supplier Spirit Aerosystems had found “multiple instances where the companies failed to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements.” Michael Stumo, whose daughter Samya Rose lost her life in the 2019 Boeing 737 Max crash in Ethiopia, described the leadership change as “necessary and overdue,” pointing out that Mr. Calhoun had been a member of the company’s board of directors since 2009.