As of: March 25, 2024, 5:21 p.m
By: Andreas Höß
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Dave Calhoun will vacate the executive chair at the end of 2024.
Photo: afp © afp
After a series of embarrassing mishaps and serious allegations against Boeing, several executives have now had to leave.
The stock reacts immediately.
Arlington – Crashes, falling parts, safety deficiencies, criticism from aviation authorities and an enormous loss of value on the stock market: the aircraft manufacturer Boeing is in the middle of a crisis.
Now Boeing boss Dave Calhoun is drawing conclusions.
He announced on Monday that he would be leaving his post at the end of the year.
The resignation “was entirely my decision,” he emphasized.
In addition to Calhoun, Chairman of the Board of Directors Larry Kellner and the head of the commercial aircraft division, Stan Deal, are also resigning.
Numerous quality assurance violations at Boeing
The reason is a series of mishaps that is unprecedented in the aviation industry and began around five years ago.
In 2018 and 2019, two Boeing 737-Max short-haul aircraft crashed, killing 346 people.
At that time, Dennis Muilenburg was still the head of Boeing.
Calhoun, who came from the financial investor Blackstone, took on more and more responsibility at Boeing and headed the supervisory board.
When Muilenburg had to leave because of the accidents, Calhoun took the helm in 2020 to solve the problems and make Boeing No. 1 in aviation again.
But even under Calhoun the misery continued.
Preliminary highlight: In January, a part the size of a door tore out of the outer paneling of a 737-9, but fortunately the plane was able to land.
According to the authorities, missing bolts and outrageous sloppiness in the company were to blame.
According to the New York Times, Boeing is said to have failed 33 of 89 tests carried out by the US aviation authority FAA, which had become skeptical, and the important supplier Spirit failed seven of 13. Violations in manufacturing, handling of parts and quality assurance were found, reported the FAA.
In March, a 777 lost a wheel during takeoff and later a 737-800 lost a part of its fuselage.
Calhoun is said to be primarily responsible for the imbalance
Not only is all of this causing massive damage to Boeing's reputation, its business has also been suffering for a long time.
The former industry leader was overtaken by its European competitor Airbus in terms of deliveries and left far behind.
Boeing has always made losses for the last five years.
In 2020, a year after the crashes, it was almost twelve billion dollars, and in 2023 it was still 2.2 billion.
The management at the company headquarters in Arlington doesn't even dare to make a business forecast for 2024.
This is not least because Boeing is not allowed to fully ramp up production of the 737-Max due to official requirements, which is causing problems for customers like Ryanair and Southwest.
Critics see Calhoun as one of the main responsible for the current imbalance.
With the financial shark Blackstone and him, the practice of maximizing profits at the expense of quality finally took hold in the group, which is taking its toll.
The stock market was therefore happy about Calhoun's resignation.
Investors there had lost around half of their money with Boeing shares in five years.