Boeing CEO and President Dave Calhoun will step down from his post at the end of the year, the company announced Monday.

The decision follows months of tumult at the aircraft maker as it attempts to address manufacturing safety issues and immense public scrutiny in the wake of the Jan. 5 Alaska Airlines incident.

The CEO change is part of broader management upheaval — Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Stan Deal will retire and be replaced by current COO Stephanie Pope, effective today.

Boeing Board Chair Larry Kellner also decided not to stand for re-election, with Steve Mollenkopf, the former CEO of chipmaker Qualcomm, elected as his successor. Mollenkopf and the board will oversee the selection of Boeing’s new CEO, though no timeline was disclosed.

In a letter to Boeing employees announcing the change, Calhoun called the Alaska Airlines incident a “watershed moment for Boeing.”

“We are going to fix what isn’t working, and we are going to get our company back on the track towards recovery and stability,” Calhoun said in the letter.

Calhoun became CEO of Boeing in 2020, taking the helm in the wake of two fatal 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed a total of 346 people.

Boeing’s systemic safety and quality issues have been under growing pressure since January.

In February, a Federal Aviation Administration expert panel report found significant organizational challenges at Boeing, including a disconnect between senior management and others in the company regarding safety culture. The audit also found multiple instances in which Boeing and its top supplier Spirit AeroSystems allegedly failed to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements.

The ongoing quality issues at the company are heavily impacting its finances. Boeing’s commercial aircraft business will be “negative 20%” for the first quarter due to the fallout of the Jan. 5 event, CFO Brian West said last Wednesday. West also noted Boeing’s intent to spend more than $4 billion to address safety and manufacturing issues.

Despite the financial pressure, the company is debating acquiring Spirit AeroSystems, which was spun out from Boeing in 2005.

“The eyes of the world are on us, and I know we will come through this moment a better company, building on all the learnings we accumulated as we worked together to rebuild Boeing over the last number of years,” Calhoun said.

By: DocMemory
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