Boeing boss Dave Calhoun announces resignation amid safety crisis
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The boss of Boeing has announced his resignation as part of a management overhaul amid a safety crisis at the plane maker.
Dave Calhoun announced he will leave his role as chief executive of the US company at the end of the year.
Stan Deal will retire as chief executive of Boeing’s commercial airplanes division, and has been replaced by Stephanie Pope, who was previously the unit’s chief operating officer.
Larry Kellner, who chairs Boeing’s board of directors, will also leave his role.
Boeing has been heavily scrutinised since one of its 737 Max 9 planes operated by Alaska Airlines suffered a mid-air blowout on January 5.
This sparked major concerns into quality control at Boeing, resulting in the Federal Aviation Administration imposing limits on its production.
In a letter to employees, Mr Calhoun wrote: “It has been the greatest privilege of my life to serve Boeing.
“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.”
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said: “We welcome these much-needed management changes in Seattle.
“We look forward to working with Stephanie Pope to accelerate B737 aircraft deliveries to customers, including Ryanair in Europe, for summer and autumn 2024.
“We also look forward to continuing to work with Boeing chief executive Dave Calhoun and chief financial officer Brian West, and to helping Boeing recover its aircraft deliveries so that Ryanair can continue to grow strongly as Boeing’s number one customer here in Europe.”
Ryanair has cancelled some flights scheduled for this summer due to delays in deliveries of Boeing 737 MAX 8200 planes.
Mr O’Leary warned in February that the reduction in capacity from expected levels means Ryanair’s ticket prices will be up to 10% more expensive this summer compared with the same period last year.
Mr Calhoun was a Boeing director when he became chief executive in January 2020.
He replaced Dennis Muilenburg, who was sacked after two Boeing 737 Max planes crashed in 2018 in Indonesia and 2019 in Ethiopia, killing a total of 346 people.
