- Chairman Dave Calhoun is set to replace Muilenburg, the company announced
- Boeing said ‘a change in leadership was necessary to restore confidence’
- Company had already said it will temporarily halt 737 MAX production in January
- Its shares, which have fallen 20% since March, rose more than 3% to $339.29
Boeing has fired its CEO Dennis Muilenburg following a year of intense scrutiny and industrial setbacks set off by twin fatal crashes of its 737 MAX jetliner.
Chairman David Calhoun will serve as CEO and president, effective January 13, the company said Monday.
‘The Board of Directors 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 company said.
The company announced a decision to suspend production of its best-selling 737 MAX model from January earlier this month. It is the plane maker’s biggest assembly-line halt in more than 20 years.
The departure comes as the worldâs largest planemaker struggles to win regulatory approvals for its grounded best-selling jetliner while trying to repair trust with passengers and airline customers.
The 737 Max was banned from flying in March 2019 following two devastating overseas crashes that left 346 dead.
The decision to suspend production was made by Boeing’s board after a two-day meeting in Chicago, just one week after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it would not approve the plane’s return to service before 2020.
The companyâs shares, which have fallen more than 20% since March, rose more than 2% to $335.24 in early trading.
Calhoun says he strongly believes in the future of Boeing and the 737 Max.
The 737 MAX grounding was the biggest crisis of Muilenburgâs 34-year tenure at Boeing, where he started as an intern in 1985, rising through the companyâs defense and services ranks to the top job in 2015.
Speculation that Muilenburg would be fired had been circulating in the industry for months, intensifying in October when the board stripped him of his chairman title.
Board member Lawrence Kellner will become non-executive chairman of the board effective immediately, the company said. Chief Financial Officer Greg Smith will serve as interim CEO during the brief transition period.
United Airlines has previously said it would pull the Boeing 737 Max from its flight schedule until June.
Spirit AeroSystems, which makes fuselages, said it would end deliveries intended for the Max in January, and Boeingâs new Starliner capsule went off course on a planned trip to the International Space Station.
Kellner, the new non-executive chairman of the board, said in a statement: ‘On behalf of the entire board of directors, I am pleased that Dave has agreed to lead Boeing at this critical juncture.
‘Dave has deep industry experience and a proven track record of strong leadership, and he recognizes the challenges we must confront.
‘The board and I look forward to working with him and the rest of the Boeing team to ensure that today marks a new way forward for our company.’