Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun To Step Down By Year End amid Safety Crisis; What Led The Decision?

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun will step down by year-end, in a broad management shakeup brought on by the planemaker’s sprawling safety crisis stemming from a January mid-air panel blowout on a 737 MAX plane.

The company also said that Stan Deal, Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO, will also retire, and Stephanie Pope would lead that business. Steve Mollenkopf has been appointed the new chair of the board.

Why Are Their Leadership Changes In Boeing?

The leadership change that happened after the mid-air incident involving an Alaska Airlines-operated MAX 9 jet carrying 171 passengers went through a safety and reputational crisis for the company.

After the incident the company is facing heavy regulatory scrutiny and U.S. authorities curbed production while it attempts to fix safety and quality issues. The company is in talks to buy its former subsidiary Spirit AeroSystems SPR.N to try to get more control over its supply chain

.What Happened In oeing Co. 737 In January 2024?

A Boeing Co. 737 Max jet operated by Alaska Airlines had to make an emergency landing at Portland International Airport as Flight 1282 reached just over 16,000 feet and the panel tore off from the side of the jet, leaving a neat, refrigerator-sized, rectangular hole in the aircraft. Following the incident, Alaska Airlines grounded all of its Boeing 737-9 aircraft.

According to Alaska Airlines, the Flight was carrying 171 passengers and six flight crew members from Portland to Ontario, California. Passengers faced a rush of air and minor injuries, with no serious casualties.

Boeing Crisis After Alaska Airlines Incident

Last week, A group of U.S. airline CEOs sought meetings with Boeing directors without Calhoun and expressed concern over the Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 accident; they stated that it was an unusual sign of frustration with the manufacturer’s problems and Calhoun, according to the Reuters report.

Calhoun, has a long experience to handle such incidences, who has held top positions at several troubled companies and was given the CEO role in January 2020 with the mandate of steering the planemaker through a series of crises emanating from the two MAX crashes and a pandemic led slump in demand for new jets.

After the Alaska Airlines accident, the FAA curbed Boeing production to a rate of 38 jets per month, however according to the CFO Brian West it had not even reached that figure.

(With Inputs From Reuters)