In the midst of a crisis, the American giant appoints a new boss – L’Express

earthpressnews
In the midst of a crisis the American giant appoints

An aerospace industry veteran, for an aerospace giant. On Wednesday, July 31, the American group Boeing announced the appointment of Kelly Ortberg as president and CEO as of August 8, replacing Dave Calhoun, who had announced in the spring his departure before the end of the year. “The board of directors conducted a broad and thorough search process in recent months to select Boeing’s new leader and Kelly has the right skills and experience to lead Boeing in its next chapter,” commented Steven Mollenkopf, chairman of the board, in a message addressed to the group’s employees as well as in the press release announcing this choice.

READ ALSO: Boeing’s descent into hell: investigation into twenty years of errors at the American aircraft manufacturer

Robert K. “Kelly” Ortberg, his full name, worked for thirty-five years in the aeronautics field after starting his career in 1983 as an engineer at Texas Instruments. He then joined Rockwell Collins, which, after multiple mergers and acquisitions, is now called Collins Aerospace and is a subsidiary of the American aeronautics and defense company RTX (formerly Raytheon). Now 64, he retired from RTX in 2021. “I am extremely honored and grateful to join this iconic group,” commented Kelly Ortberg, quoted in the press release.

Production problems

A member of the board of directors since 2009 and appointed CEO in early 2020 to restore the situation after the crashes of two 737 MAX8s in 2018 and 2019, which caused 346 deaths, Dave Calhoun was swept up in the crisis that Boeing has been going through for many months with production and quality control problems. His retirement was announced on March 25, as part of a reorganization at the head of the group.

READ ALSO: Boeing 737 MAX: “Manufacturers have difficulty ensuring good quality control”

In a separate statement, the planemaker reported second-quarter results that fell well short of analysts’ expectations, with a net loss of $1.44 billion due to lower deliveries in its commercial aircraft business and losses on defense contracts. The consensus among analysts at FactSet was for a net loss of $913 million, compared with a net loss of $149 million a year earlier. Revenue totaled $16.86 billion in the April-June period, down 15% from the same period a year earlier.

lep-life-health-03