Boeing has appointed an aerospace industry veteran with a mechanical engineering background as its next CEO hoping to usher in a new era at a business plagued by legal, regulatory, and manufacturing issues, as well as rising financial consequences.
Robert “Kelly” Ortberg, a former CEO at aerospace firm Rockwell Collins, will succeed David Calhoun as CEO and president on August 8, the company announced. Calhoun said in March that he would retire at the end of the year, and experts applauded the earlier transition.
“There is much work to be done, and I’m looking forward to getting started,” Ortberg said in a Boeing statement.
Boeing named a new CEO as the company recorded a second-quarter loss of more than $1.4 billion due to declining revenues.
The loss was larger, and the company’s sales fell short of Wall Street’s low expectations, as both Boeing’s commercial and defense businesses lost money. The dismal results came at a difficult time for Boeing, which is facing many inquiries into its safety culture and manufacturing quality.
This month, the American aerospace company decided to plead guilty to a federal fraud allegation involving its 737 Max airliner and two crashes that killed 346 people.
The Federal Aviation Administration strengthened its monitoring of the company and limited the number of planes it could build after a panel blew off an Alaska Airlines Max flying at 16,000 feet.
No one was seriously injured, but the unsettling incident and following examination harmed Boeing’s reputation.
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