Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun will step down later this year in a radical management shakeup triggered by the plane maker’s quality crisis, exacerbated after a piece of the fuselage of a 737 MAX jet broke off mid-air air in flight in January.
Additionally, President Larry Kellner and Stan Deal, CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, are also leaving Boeing, as the company’s board of directors tries to regain control of the numerous issues that have shaken confidence in the company over the years for several weeks .
The January incident was just the latest in a series of crises that have shaken industry confidence in the manufacturer and hampered its ability to increase production. Calhoun himself was named CEO after two of the company’s plane crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed nearly 350 people.
Immediately after the Jan. 5 crash, when a piece of fuselage broke off from the plane mid-flight, airline executives expressed support for Calhoun, but those positive feelings faded after further production delays and when regulators detailed safety and quality issues in a major manufacturing company. downtown outside Seattle.
Some investors have expressed concern that this change would not be enough to solve these problems.
“We have long believed Boeing’s problems are rooted in cultural challenges,” said Cameron Dawson, chief investment officer at NewEdge Wealth.
Boeing shares lost about a quarter of their value after the crash. Shares rose 1.2% on Monday, well below major gains recorded earlier.
The company faces heavy regulatory scrutiny, and U.S. authorities have limited the company’s production in an attempt to fix its problems. Boeing is also in talks to buy its former subsidiary Spirit AeroSystems to try to gain greater control over the supply chain.
Calhoun said he made the decision to step aside. “I was the one who communicated that at the end of this year I intended to retire,” Calhoun told CNBC. You said you wanted to stay until the end of the year to deal with quality issues.
Stephanie Pope, Chief Operating Officer, has been named to lead Boeing Commercial Airplanes, effective Monday.
Former Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf has been named the new chairman of the board and is leading the search for the next CEO. A source told Reuters that Mollenkopf will join Kellner in scheduled meetings with CEOs of major airlines in the United States and abroad.
MANAGEMENT QUESTIONS
Last week, a group of North American airline presidents requested meetings with Boeing directors without Calhoun to express their frustration with the crash and Alaska Airlines’ handling.
Analysts and investors called the move a positive one for Boeing, but stressed that much depends on Calhoun’s successor and changing the company’s culture from the top.
Calhoun told CNBC that Boeing will fix its quality problems. “I’m up to the challenge,” Calhoun said. “Let’s calm the situation. Let’s get ahead of the problems.”
Boeing’s crisis has frustrated airlines, including Brazil’s Gol, which are already facing delivery delays from both the company and rival Airbus, and the plane maker is spending more money than expected this quarter.
Source: Terra
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