Industries News.Net

Boeing's new CEO promises to fix what two other CEOs could not


Robert Besser
12 Aug 2024

SEATTLE, Washington: Boeing's new chief executive this week walked the floor of the factory near Seattle promising to fix the aerospace giant's troubles that the last two CEOs could not.

Robert "Kelly" Ortberg takes over the money-losing company that agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud. It is also struggling fix its aircraft-manufacturing process. It cannot bring two astronauts home from the International Space Station because of flaws in a spacecraft it built for NASA.

Boeing announced Ortberg's selection just over a week ago, on the same day that it posted a loss of more than US$1.4 billion in the second quarter. This was marked by a steep drop in deliveries of new airline planes, including the 737 Max.

The National Transportation Safety Board wrapped up a two-day hearing on the 737 Max that suffered a blowout of a panel in the side of the plane during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. The board's investigators interviewed workers at the 737 factory in Renton, Washington, who said they were under too much pressure to produce planes quickly, which led to mistakes.

During the hearing, a Federal Aviation Administration manager said the regulator has 16 open enforcement cases against Boeing - three or four times the average number - and half started since the door-plug blowout.

Dennis Muilenburg, a Boeing lifer, was fired in 2020 while the company was trying to convince regulators to let Max jetliners resume flying after crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people. David Calhoun, a longtime Boeing board member and General Electric executive, got the reworked Max back in the air but could not stem losses exceeding $25 billion since the start of 2019. Calhoun announced in March that he would step down.

The company declined to make Ortberg available for interviews.

One of Ortberg's primary assignments will be fixing the manufacturing process and increasing production of Max jets, Boeing's best-selling plane. The FAA has limited Boeing to 38 per month shortly after the Alaska Airlines blowout, but Boeing's top safety official said this week production is in the 20s per month.

During Calhoun's tenure, the company reached an agreement with the Justice Department last month to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud in connection with development of the Max. A federal judge in Texas will decide whether to approve the deal, which includes a fine of at least $244 million. Boeing investing at least $455 million in quality - and safety-compliance programs. The deal would spare Boeing the ordeal of a public trial.

Boeing's defense and space unit is also struggling. It lost $913 million in the second quarter because of setbacks on fixed-price government contracts, including a deal to build two new Air Force One presidential jets.

Copyright ©1998-2024 Industries News.Net | Mainstream Media Limited - All rights reserved