Boeing on Monday fired its chief executive, Dennis Muilenburg, as the company battles to regain the trust of regulators, customers and the public after two crashes of its 737 Max plane claimed 346 lives.
In a statement, Boeing said the board had “decided that a change in leadership was necessary to restore confidence in the company moving forward as it works to repair relationships with regulators, customers, and all other stakeholders”.
The Seattle-based company said its chairman, David Calhoun, would take over as chief executive on 13 January. Muilenburg will leave Boeing with immediate effect, with chief financial officer, Greg Smith, serving as interim chief executive.
Boeing did not respond to questions about how much Muilenburg will collect in severance pay. Muilenburg, 55, who has worked at Boeing for his entire 34-year career, has been widely criticized for failing to properly acknowledge the impact of the crashes on grieving families.
He had also been accused of appearing to mislead the aviation regulator.Boeing’s shares, which had slid 22% since the second crash in March 2019, jumped 2.7% to $336 after the announcement was made on Monday.
