Boeing announced Monday that its chief executive, David Calhoun, would step down at the end of 2024 as part of a broad management shake-up, as the aircraft maker grapples with its most significant safety crisis in years.
Stan Deal, the head of commercial airplanes division, will retire immediately and will be replaced by Stephanie Pope, the company’s chief operating officer.
The company also announced that its chairman, Larry Kellner, would not stand for re-election.
The management overhaul comes less than three months after a panel, known as a door plug, blew off a Boeing Max 9 during an Alaska Airlines flight on Jan. 5. The incident plunged the company into crisis five years after crashes in 2018 and 2019 of its Max 8 planes that killed nearly 350 people.
The Alaska incident renewed questions about the safety of Max planes and Boeing’s commitment to quality. Airline chief executives publicly expressed frustration with the manufacturer. The Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates the plane maker, grounded similar planes across the United States. When it cleared the planes to fly again, it also imposed limits on Boeing’s planned production increase of Max planes, foiling the company’s latest attempt to compete with its European rival Airbus.
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