Boeing Fires CEO Dennis Muilenburg Amid Ongoing 737 MAX Airplane Crisis
Boeing is changing up it’s leadership after a tumultuous year for the aerospace company.
On Monday, the company announced in a press release that their current CEO, Dennis Muilenburg, was being replaced with Chairman David Calhoun, effective Jan. 13, 2020.
The change comes after Boeing has faced a series of blows this year, including two fatal crashes with its 737 MAX airplane that killed a total of 346 people, according to the New York Times and CNN.
“The Board of Directors decided that a change in leadership was necessary to restore confidence in the Company moving forward as it works to repair relationships with regulators, customers, and all other stakeholders,” the press release read.
“Under the Company’s new leadership, Boeing will operate with a renewed commitment to full transparency, including effective and proactive communication with the FAA, other global regulators and its customers,” the company added.
In March, President Donald Trump gave an “emergency order” and airlines were forced to ground all Boeing 737 MAX airplanes after the fatal crashes for further investigation into the models. Several other countries issued a ban as well.
The planes have yet to return to flight, and in April the company came under more heat when The New York Times published a report with whistleblowers who worked at a North Charleston, South Carolina, factory that produces jets for Boeing claiming the company is compromising safety with its “shoddy production” and “weak oversight.”
These claims were about a second Boeing aircraft — the 787 Dreamliner. Boeing denied the claims made in the Times’ report.
After a joint investigation by Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration, over 300 Boeing 737 jets, including the controversial MAX models, were identified as having faulty parts in their wings, according to statements from both Boeing and the FAA that were released in June.
The company said it believed 20 737 MAX and 21 737 NG planes may have defective slat tracks, which are pieces on the front of the wing and move along a track to create lift. They are most pivotal during take-off and landing.
This newly discovered wing issue was not related to the faulty software update, known as MCAS, that was linked to the two fatal crashes, which Boeing has been working to resolve.
According to CNN, earlier this month the company announced that they would be officially halting production of the 737 MAX aircrafts in January, as they are not sure when the plane will be cleared to take to the skies again and have faced numerous delays in the matter.
Despite the many setbacks with the plane, Boeing has maintained their confidence in the 737 MAX, which Calhoun reiterated in a statement with the news of his new appointment.
“I strongly believe in the future of Boeing and the 737 MAX,” he said. “I am honored to lead this great company and the 150,000 dedicated employees who are working hard to create the future of aviation.”
