Boeing replaced Dennis Muilenburg as CEO amid the protracted 737 MAX crisis (AFP Photo/ALEX WONG) |
New York (AFP) - Boeing on Monday replaced its embattled chief executive, Dennis Muilenburg, saying a change was necessary as it attempts to restore its reputation amid the protracted 737 MAX crisis.
Boeing
named board Chairman David Calhoun as chief executive and president, saying the
company needed to "restore confidence" and "repair relationships
with regulators, customers and all other stakeholders."
The company
pledged to "operate with a renewed commitment to full transparency,
including effective and proactive communication with the FAA, other global
regulators and its customers."
The
aerospace giant's financial picture remains clouded following the global
grounding of the MAX in March after two deadly crashes.
The move
comes a week after Boeing took the monumental step of temporarily shutting down
MAX production because of the crisis, which has pushed the aircraft's return to
the skies into 2020.
Muilenburg
will exit the company immediately but Calhoun, a former General Electric
aviation executive, will not take the CEO post until January 13, 2020, while he
exits existing commitments, Boeing said in a news release.
During that
period, Chief Financial Officer Greg Smith will serve as interim CEO.
Muilenburg's
response to the crisis has been increasingly criticized as the MAX grounding
has dragged on far longer than initially expected as more disturbing details
have dribbled out about the certification of the MAX.
He has also
been seen as tone deaf and awkward towards families of the 346 people killed in
the crashes.
After
enduring two withering congressional hearings in the fall, Muilenburg's
leadership came under further scrutiny this month when the Federal Aviation
Administration called the company out for overly-optimistic timeframe for
restoring the MAX that the agency said created the perception that Boeing was
trying "to force FAA into taking quicker action."
Boeing
shares jumped 3.4 percent to $339.13 in early trading on the news.
The company
took another hit to its reputation over on Sunday when its Starliner spacecraft
landed six days early after a failed mission to rendezvous with the
International Space Station.
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