The phone has been ringing off the hook since announced a major Boeing leadership shakeup Monday. CEO Dave Calhoun is stepping down at the end of the year, and several other top executives are departing. NPR transportation correspondent Joel Rose is here to tell us more about what this means for Boeing's future.
JOEL ROSE: So, first things first, it's important to remember that when you get a new CEO, it's basically expected that they can bring in their own management team. And that is going to include all the executive vice presidents on up. And it's also expected that they can put their stamp on how things are run and if they want to move people around. It's a very typical thing that happens.
And it's not clear what effect that will have on the company. But what we do know is that with the departure of Calhoun, there's going to be a lot of new questions about how this company runs and what Boeing plans to do moving forward.
That's because Calhoun took over in 2020 after the company ousted its previous CEO Dennis Muilenburg following two deadly 737 Max crashes that killed 346 people. And the company has been plagued by production problems that have delayed delivering planes to airlines and hurt its growth prospects. The FAA is stepping up oversight of the company, and agency Administrator Mike Whitaker has said Boeing cannot increase production until the FAA can be confident in the aircraft's quality.
Boeing has also appointed a former Qualcomm CEO, Steve Mollenkopf, as its independent board chair and chairman of the committee that will choose Calhoun's replacement. Board chair Larry Kellner, a former Continental Airlines chief, won't seek reelection at the May shareholders meeting.
And as for Commercial Airplanes President Stan Deal, he's leaving effective immediately and will be replaced by COO Stephanie Pope, who will lead the division as well as oversee Boeing's services business. And some analysts have seen her as a candidate to replace Calhoun.
Richard Aboulafia, an aviation analyst with AeroDynamic Advisory, says Calhoun's exit is long overdue. He says Boeing leaders have been more focused on meeting production goals and boosting the stock price than on making sure the airplanes they build are safe and reliable.
So he says this leadership change is a chance for Boeing to make a fresh start. But he says it's not clear whether this management revamp will be enough to restore the company's reputation and confidence.
And if that's true, then Boeing will have to make some tough choices about how much it wants to invest in its future and what parts of the business to keep and which to shed. And that's a big question because, as we all know, you can have an awful lot of money but if consumers don't trust you then you have nothing. And that's what Boeing is fighting to regain right now. NPR's Deidre Woollard contributed to this report.