Boeing President and CEO Dave Calhoun has announced he will step down by the year’s end as the US aerospace giant grapples with the fallout of the 737 Max crisis.
The decision comes as part of the largest management shakeup in the company’s history.
In a Monday letter to employees posted on Boeing’s website, Calhoun said that the January 5 incident when a door plug blew off Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 at 16,000 feet was “a watershed moment” for the company.
“We must continue to respond to this accident with humility and complete transparency,” Calhoun wrote. “The 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.”
Boeing initially brought on Calhoun to navigate a “challenging time” for the company, as it sought to gain back public trust after the two deadly crashes involving its 737 Max 8 planes in 2018 and 2019.
In addition to Calhoun’s departure, Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stan Deal will also step down, effective immediately. Board Chair Larry Kellner has also informed the board that he does not intend to stand for re-election at the upcoming annual shareholder meeting.
Boeing’s production standards have come under increased scrutiny worldwide following a mid-air blowout on one of its 737 MAX 9 planes. On January 5, an Alaska Airlines flight bound for California from Portland, Oregon, had to turn back after a door panel blew off at 16,000 feet, injuring several of the 171 passengers aboard. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has temporarily grounded all 737 MAX 9 jets in the US for safety inspections. Alaska Airlines said it has found loose bolts on many of the Boeing planes in its fleet.
The FAA’s safety audit of the 737 MAX 9 manufacturing process has reportedly found dozens of quality-control shortcomings, including the use of dish soap and a hotel key card as makeshift tools.
The 737 MAX, Boeing’s top-selling airliner, was grounded by aviation regulators around the world in March 2019, after crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia killed a combined 346 people. The planes were cleared to go back into service around two years later, following repairs to their flight control systems.