Boeing CEO will step down in major reshuffle
boeing abruptly said monday that it was overhauling its leadership amid its most significant safety crisis in years, announcing sweeping changes that included the departure of CEO dave Calhoun at the end of the year.
the aircraft maker has been under mounting pressure from regulators, airlines, and passengers as the company struggled to respond to the fallout from an incident in early January in which a panel blew off a boeing 737 max 9 plane midair during an Alaska Airlines flight.
the incident has roiled the company, considered by many to be a prized American institution, and renewed concerns about its commitment to safety and quality five years after two crashes of 737 max 8 planes killed a total of nearly 350 people.
In addition to Calhoun’s departure, Stan deal, the head of the division that makes planes for airlines and other commercial customers, will retire immediately. He will be replaced by Stephanie pope, boeing’s chief operating officer, the company said in a statement.
boeing also announced that its chair, larry Kellner, would not stand for reelection. the board elected Steve mollenkopf, an electrical engineer by training and the former CEO of Qualcomm, as its new chair. In that role, he will lead the process of choosing boeing’s next CEO.
the federal Aviation Administration, which regulates the company, grounded 737 max 9 planes across the United States after the Alaska Airlines incident. When the agency cleared the planes to fly again in late January, it also imposed limits on boeing’s planned production increase of max planes, foiling the company’s latest attempt to better compete with its European rival Airbus.
A recent FAA audit of boeing’s max production found dozens of lapses. the agency gave boeing 90 days to address its issues. the FBI has also reached out to passengers of the Alaska Airlines flight, informing them that they may be a “possible victim of a crime,” according to a copy of one such notification.
Airline leaders publicly expressed frustration with the manufacturer after the incident. the CEOs of several major carriers in the United States were set to meet with Kellner and other board members this week, according to a person familiar with the company’s plans. Calhoun was supportive of those meetings but was not going to attend them. mollenkopf will now participate.
boeing’s board met this weekend to approve the leadership changes announced on monday, according to the person.
In a note to employees monday announcing the changes, Calhoun said the Jan. 5 incident involving Alaska Airlines flight 1282 “was a watershed moment for boeing.”
“the eyes of the world are on us, and I know we will come through this moment a better company, building on all the learnings we accumulated as we worked together to rebuild boeing over the last number of years,” he said.
Calhoun said in an interview with CNBC that he would be a part of the search for his successor. He also characterized all of the leadership changes, including his own, as “very deliberate.”
“Why now? I’ve entered my fifth year,” he said. “At the end of this year, I’ll be close to 68 years old. I’ve always said to the board — and the board has been very prepared — I would give them plenty of notice so that they could understand and plan succession.”
boeing’s board appointed Calhoun CEO after firing his predecessor, dennis A. muilenburg, who had led the company during the 2018 and 2019 crashes. Calhoun, who assumed the company’s leadership in January 2020, spent much of his career at general Electric, where he was once vice chair and headed the company’s infrastructure division. When he assumed the leadership of boeing, he told employees that the company would “do better.”