(New York) The American aircraft manufacturer Boeing, in turmoil after several safety problems on its planes, is trying to make a new start with a major management reshuffle announced Monday, including the departure at the end of the year of his boss Dave Calhoun.
The group has been in crisis since an accident in early January on an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9, in which a door came off the cabin in mid-flight.
Dave Calhoun will step down as chief executive at the end of 2024, the company said in a statement. An admission of failure: he arrived in January 2020, to restore confidence in Boeing after two fatal accidents of its new 737 MAX flagship plane.
Mr. Calhoun is not the only one leaving. Stan Deal, director of the commercial aviation division (the division concerned by safety problems) has been replaced with immediate effect by Stephanie Pope, the group’s operating director since January.
Finally, board chairman Larry Kellner “informed the board that he does not plan to run for re-election in the next election” at the annual shareholder meeting, according to the release. He had held this position since the end of 2019.
To succeed him, the board of directors chose Steve Mollenkopf, member of the executive board of Boeing and former boss of chip manufacturer Qualcomm. In this capacity, Steve Mollenkopf will be responsible for finding a new CEO for Boeing.
Black sequence
“Serving Boeing has been the greatest privilege of my life,” Dave Calhoun said in a letter to Boeing employees, quoted in the press release: “The eyes of the world are on us and I know we will be better for it. as a business. »
“With a strong board of directors, an excellent management team and 170,000 dedicated Boeing employees, I am fully confident in the future of our company,” said Larry Kellner, quoted in the press release.
Around 9:20 a.m. (Eastern time), in electronic trading before the opening of the New York Stock Exchange, the aircraft manufacturer’s stock climbed 3.8% to $196.06.
After the door torn off the Alaska Airlines flight, the American Civil Aviation Agency (FAA) launched an audit of the manufacturer’s quality control. At the beginning of March, it indicated that “non-compliance problems” had been identified in the production control of Boeing and its subcontractor Spirit Aerosystems. Result: the manufacturer had to reduce the production rate of its 737 MAX aircraft to 38 aircraft per month. In January, it rolled off only 27 devices from the assembly lines.
“What the FAA wants and, more importantly, what I want, is a production system that is under control at every step of the process,” regardless of how many aircraft are ultimately produced, Calhoun said. on the American channel CNBC, Monday.
Boeing has been struggling for years to convince on safety issues, following a series of blacks. After the two close accidents of its 737 MAX plane, which left 346 dead in 2018 and 2019, the Seattle giant had already been the subject of numerous investigations.
In addition to the incident on the Alaska Airlines flight, production issues have been reported throughout 2023, as well as a series of other incidents in 2024.