Boeing 737 Max fallout: CEO Muilenburg out
Company committed to ‘full transparency’
Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg, who faced intense criticism over his handling of the 737 Max crisis, resigned effective immediately, the company announced Monday.
The Max was grounded worldwide in March after the second of two crashes that killed a total of 346 people. Boeing announced it would temporarily halt Max production next month.
The announcement came one day after Boeing’s Starliner capsule landed in New Mexico after a difficult flight in which mission managers scrambled to save the unmanned spacecraft.
Board Chairman David Calhoun was named CEO and president effective Jan. 13. Chief Financial Officer Greg Smith will serve as interim CEO during the transition, Boeing said in a statement.
Board member Lawrence Kellner will become nonexecutive chairman of the board effective immediately.
“A change in leadership was necessary to restore confidence in the company moving forward as it works to repair relationships with regulators, customers and all other stakeholders,” the statement said.
Boeing will operate “with a renewed commitment to full transparency, including effective and proactive communication” with the FAA, other regulators and its customers, the statement said.
Boeing appeared confident last month that the FAA would certify its software fixes for the troubled plane this year, that it could resume deliveries of new Max planes to airlines in December and that the plane would return to commercial service in January.
Calhoun gave Muilenburg a vote of confidence in November, saying the board believed he “has done everything right” during the Max crisis.
The FAA repeatedly said there is no timetable for bringing the planes back into service. FAA Administrator Steve Dickson chastised Muilenburg for suggesting the plane would be recertified this year.
Dickson was concerned that some of Boeing’s public statements on the plane’s return were designed to force the FAA into taking quicker action. He told Muilenburg that Boeing’s focus should be on the “quality and timeliness of data” submitted to the FAA for review before any flight.
The FAA said Monday that it was informed of Muilenburg’s departure from Boeing, but it does not comment on personnel decisions.
Last week, United took the Max out of its schedule until early June, longer than any other airline, since the timetable for the plane’s return remains murky. American and Southwest have it scheduled to return in early April.
Two airline unions, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA and Transportation Workers Union Local 556, called the resignation of Muilenburg “long overdue” in a statement issued by their leaders, who represent 70,000 flight attendants, including those at United and Southwest.
“It is not right that the good people on the front lines of Boeing are hurting and facing uncertainty because of failed leadership,” the statement said. “Our members are experiencing this same uncertainty as airlines jettison flight plans.”
The planes were fast becoming the most popular in the world when Indonesia’s Lion Air Flight 610 plunged into the Java Sea on Oct. 29, 2018, killing all 189 aboard. Less than five months later, on March 10, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa, killing all 157 passengers and crew.