Boeing’s top executive will step down this year amid a broader shakeup of the airplane manufacturer’s top leadership announced on March 25, 2024. Still, it is disappointing that it took CEO David Calhoun to leave because of the MAX9 door mishap. He told the press that the Alaska Airlines door plug flying off in January was a “watershed moment.”
“Two Boeing MAX8 planes crashed within five months while Calhoun was at a top executive spot at the company, yet it takes the sloppy design of a different aircraft — grounded in greed — to lead him to want to leave early,” said Robert A. Clifford, founder and senior partner of Clifford Law Offices in Chicago and Lead Counsel in the federal litigation pending in the 2019 crash in Ethiopia. “The watershed moment should have been when nearly 400 people died in the Boeing Max 8 disasters years ago. Taken seriously, it is likely that the Alaska Air debacle could have been averted, and the company would be on the way to healing itself, and ensuring the safety of the flying public. The families knew that the culture of profit over safety would not change when Calhoun took over in January 2020 because he was raised on that principle.”
Calhoun, 66, has served on Boeing’s Board of Directors since 2009. Its Board of Directors changed company bylaws in 2021 to extend the retirement age to 70 to allow Calhoun to take over until April 2028.
This latest announcement comes on the heels of a tumultuous five-plus years, with most travelers losing faith in the 108-year-old plane manufacturer. It also was announced that effective immediately the CEO of the commercial airline unit, Stan Deal, is leaving to be replaced by Boeing’s chief operating officer Stephanie Pope. Boeing Chairman of the Board Larry Kellner also is stepping down. He will be succeeded as chair by Steve Mollenkopf, who has been a Boeing director since 2020 and will lead the board in picking a new CEO, Boeing announced.
“This exodus is just a start. As the victims’ families of the Boeing crash have stated, the company needs a complete cleanout. Competent people who value safety must be running that company to send a message throughout the entire industry that it is serious about making planes that are safe. All Boeing workers must take pride in what they are doing with the lives of every passenger in their hands. That simply isn’t the case as dozens of whistleblowers and previous employees have complained,” Clifford said. “Boeing must come to terms that the MAX aircraft must be totally re-certified. Boeing engineers must work on the latest state-of-the-art design of a new plane instead of retooling a plane that has been in the air for 50 years for the purpose that the FAA conducts less scrutiny. There’s just too much wrong with that aircraft.”
For further information or to speak to Robert Clifford, contact Clifford Law Offices Communications Partner Pamela Sakowicz Menaker at 847-721-0909 (cell).
Original source can be found here.