Boeing has announced that President and CEO Dave Calhoun will stand down at the end of 2024, in a seismic shakeup of the company board.
The decision was confirmed by Boeing on March 25, 2024, and comes at a time when Boeing is under increasing pressure over safety following the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 door plug blowout on January 5, 2024.
The company said that Calhoun will lead Boeing 鈥渢hrough the year to complete the critical work underway to stabilize and position the company for the future.鈥
Stan Deal, the Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO, often the face of the company following the Alaska Airlines incident, has also announced that he will retire and will be replaced by the current Chief Operating Officer Stephanie Pope.
鈥淚t has been the greatest privilege of my life to serve Boeing,鈥 Calhoun wrote in a letter to employees. 鈥淭he eyes of the world are on us, and I know that we will come through this moment a better company. We will remain squarely focused on completing the work we have done together to return our company to stability after the extraordinary challenges of the past five years, with safety and quality at the forefront of everything that we do.鈥
In addition, Chair Larry Kellner has informed the board that he does not intend to stand for re-election at the upcoming Annual Shareholder meeting.
Steve Mollenkopf was elected by the board to succeed Kellner as independent board chair and will lead the search for a new CEO.
‘I think it really shows how the mindset has been on production’
Pressure has been mounting at Boeing after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) began investigating safety processes at Boeing and the US Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into the Alaska Airlines incident.
In an interview on 鈥樷 on March 19, 2024, the FAA head said that Boeing精东影业 鈥渕indset鈥 around production needs to 鈥渟hift.鈥
FAA chief Michael Whitaker spoke of a recent visit to Boeing精东影业 facilities in which he saw for himself that the company精东影业 focus appears to be on production rather than safety and quality.
鈥淭here are issues around the safety culture in Boeing,鈥 Whitaker told the NBC show.聽鈥淭heir priorities have been focused on production and not on safety and quality. And so, what we are really focused on now is shifting that focus from production to safety and quality.鈥澛犅犅
When Whitaker was asked during the interview specifically what he saw at the Boeing facilities that concerned him, his response was stinging of the planemaker.
鈥淲ell, really looking for that indicator of a safety culture,鈥 Whitaker explained. 鈥淪o before going out on the floor of a manufacturing floor, you would expect a thorough safety briefing. That wasn鈥檛 part of the process. And then reviewing the floor, expected a lot of conversation around quality assurance and safety and again, that wasn鈥檛 there. It was all about production. And there精东影业 nothing wrong with production, but it has to follow safety.鈥
鈥淚 think it really shows how the mindset has been on production, and I think you would have expected at least more of a show of focus on safety and that was lacking,鈥 Whitaker concluded.聽
Dave Calhoun精东影业 letter to Boeing staff聽
Announcing his departure to Boeing staff, Calhoun sent a long letter explaining the decision in which he described the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 accident as a 鈥渨atershed鈥 moment for the company.
鈥淚 want to thank each and every one of you for how you have stepped up to this challenge and for the work now underway to make sure we demonstrate to all stakeholders that the Boeing of the future is everything they should expect it to be. We have been working together for the last five years to address some of the most significant challenges our company and industry have ever faced in our 108-year history,鈥 Calhoun wrote.
The CEO added: 鈥淚 am confident that the way we have confronted these challenges, and how we are responding to this specific moment, is establishing standards for future generations of employees and will be woven into the fabric of how we operate for decades to come.鈥澛
Boeing Latest鈥
— Ryanair Press Team (@RyanairPress)
Today, we welcome news of management changes inside Boeing and look forward to working closely with Dave Calhoun and Stephanie Pope to eliminate delivery delays.
Speaking from our Dublin HQ, Michael O鈥橪eary had this to say:
In the letter Calhoun said that he had been 鈥渃onsidering for some time鈥 with board members about the 鈥渞ight time for a CEO transition at Boeing鈥.
Calhoun also thanked his colleagues that were stepping into new executive roles of leaving the company.
He also praised the Chief Operating Officer Stephanie Pope who will become the Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO.
鈥淪tephanie knows our company inside and out and has a proven track record of superb leadership, including an innate talent for listening and responding to our people. Stephanie is a third-generation Boeing employee. She is deeply committed to our company, to our employees and to our shared future; and she is the perfect person to take on the leadership of our commercial airplanes business at this moment,鈥 Calhoun wrote.
