Boeing CEO's resignation is 'an extremely positive development,' industry analyst says

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun is stepping down from his role by the end of the year, among other leadership shakeups.

Critics of Boeing leadership may not be surprised — nor are they mourning Calhoun's departure.

Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace industry analyst and managing director of AeroDynamic Advisory, has long been critical of Boeing leadership. He called Monday’s announcement that Calhoun and others would be leaving their positions an "extremely positive development."

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"It's not just [Calhoun]. It's the head of Boeing Commercial [Airplanes] and the head of the board of directors, too. So this is an extremely thorough clean sweep," Aboulafia told KUOW.

Stan Deal, the head of the commercial airplanes division, will retire effective immediately. Board Chairman Larry Kellner will now stand for re-election.

The leadership shakeup comes after a door plug blew off an Alaska Airlines 737 Max jet in January. No one was injured, but the incident led to fresh scrutiny of Boeing's safety and quality control.

The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation of the incident, and the company quickly faced pressure from major customers. In fact, a group of airline CEOs was reportedly set to meet with the board of Boeing this week.

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"Boeing was quickly becoming a meme stock," Aboulafia said. "It's a bit of a mystery how the people at the top lasted as long as they did."

From Aboulafia's perspective, the Alaska Airlines mishap was just the last straw.

"If you look at the real issues — you know, failure to meet production targets, loss of market share relative to Airbus, failure to keep their core design capabilities intact and have a coherent product development roadmap — those are huge issues," he said. "One manufacturing error is certainly significant, but really more of a precipitating act rather than a key driver behind change."

Calhoun came to Boeing at another difficult time for the company, after a pair of 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people. Aboulafia said Calhoun made a number of "ill-advised" decisions as he took over, making moves that were a "complete mystery" to anyone who knows the industry as well as Aboulafia does.

Now, he said Boeing has a chance to put someone new at the helm, someone who can "restore that connection between management and people engaged in the company's core business." Aboulafia suggested the company could accomplish that by giving labor a seat at the table.

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Whatever happens, Aboulafia — and perhaps a few other critics — would like to see more transformation.

"I like to see a few more board changes, frankly," he said. "In an ideal world, they'd move the company HQ out of Washington, D.C. and back to, well, maybe Seattle. That would be an excellent choice."