Boeing names new CEO as company continues to face scrutiny, revenue loss

Boeing has named aerospace industry veteran Robert “Kelly” Ortberg to serve as its next president and CEO as the company seeks to recover from mounting scrutiny after a series of high-profile accidents.

Ortberg will replace Dave Calhoun as CEO effective Aug. 8, following Calhoun decision to step down from the role, the aerospace company announced Wednesday.

“The Board conducted a thorough and extensive search process over the last several months to select the next CEO of Boeing and Kelly has the right skills and experience to lead Boeing in its next chapter,” Steven Mollenkopf, chair of Boeing’s board of directors, said in a release.

Calling Ortberg “an experienced leader,” Mollenkopf said the new CEO is “deeply respected” in the aerospace industry, with more than 35 years of leadership experience in the sector.

“I’m extremely honored and humbled to join this iconic company,” Ortberg said, adding later, “There is much work to be done, and I’m looking forward to getting started.” 

A Boeing spokesperson told The Associated Press that the company waived the mandatory retirement age of 65 for Ortberg. It did the same for Calhoun in 2021, when he turned 64.

Boeing reported a loss of more than $1.4 billion on falling revenue during the second quarter, a bigger drop than expected, the AP reported. This compares to a loss of $149 million a year earlier.

The financial losses follow a tumultuous few months for Boeing, which came under harsh scrutiny in January, when a fuselage panel on a Boeing 737 Max 9 blew off and left a gaping hole while an Alaska Airlines flight was 16,000 feet above Oregon. 

The plane was forced to make an emergency landing, and though no serious injuries were reported, the incident prompted a series of investigations into Boeing’s production and safety compliance measures.

Three months after the midair blowout, Calhoun announced he would step down, revealing he had been “considering for some time” the appropriate point for a CEO transition at the company.

“As you all know, the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 accident was a watershed moment for Boeing. We must continue to respond to this accident with humility and complete transparency,” Calhoun wrote in a letter to employees in March. “We also must inculcate a total commitment to safety and quality at every level of our company.”

He was later grilled last month by a group of bipartisan senators over the company’s safety and quality practices amid ongoing investigations by the Justice Department and federal regulators.

Shortly before the testimony, new whistleblower allegations were released, sparking concerns about Boeing’s commitment to actually making the promised changes following the midair blowout and two deadly crashes involving its planes in 2018 and 2019.

Calhoun apologized directly to the families of those killed in Boeing crashes during his opening testimony last month.

The company is also facing multiple lawsuits, including two separate cases involving a group of passengers, and a third from shareholders over “serious safety lapses.”

Boeing and the Justice Department finalized a separate agreement last week that will see the company plead guilty to conspiracy and pay nearly $250 million in penalties.

The proposed agreement caps off a multiyear investigation into the two deadly Boeing crashes in 2018 and 2019, which resulted in nearly 350 deaths.