In what might be called the least surprising surprise since someone tried to make fetch happen, Boeing’s embattled CEO Dave Calhoun has announced he will be stepping down from his role at the end of 2024, presumably before another airplane door tries to escape mid-flight. This news comes as the aerospace giant grapples with a year that could charitably be described as “turbulent,” figuratively speaking, though at times literally too.
The timing of Calhoun’s announcement is impeccable in the same way spilling wine on a white shirt just before your big date is a poignant metaphor for how things are going. Boeing has spent the last several months entangled in investigations, customer complaints and a particularly hair-raising incident earlier this year when a panel on an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 decided that seatbelts were optional for airplane parts too. That incident reignited public and regulatory scrutiny, much like a fire alarm being tested at 3 a.m.
In a letter to employees, Calhoun said the Alaska Airlines incident was a “watershed moment” for the company, which is corporate-speak for “everyone freaked out and now we have to do something about it.” He added that Boeing must continue its “safe return to service” strategy and rebuild the trust of regulators, airlines and passengers—many of whom now regard window seats with a new blend of existential dread and morbid curiosity.
Also departing is the head of Boeing’s commercial airplanes division, Stan Deal, making it a sort of corporate buddy movie departure. The company’s Chairman Larry Kellner will not be seeking re-election, presumably because someone has to get off this ride before it gets loopier than a stunt pilot on espresso.
Succession plans are already in motion, as Chief Operating Officer Stephanie Pope will take Deal’s place effective immediately, skipping the traditional period of pretending to “consider all input” from the board. Boeing has not yet named Calhoun’s successor, but with the bar now set somewhere just slightly above “planes should not fall apart,” there is hope the new leadership will clear it with room to spare.
In Wall Street’s bafflingly optimistic way, shares of Boeing actually rose on the news, possibly because investors prefer CEOs who do not come with a built-in turbulence setting.
After a year of exposed fuselages, shaken confidence and executives parachuting out metaphorically before passengers need actual parachutes, Boeing may finally be ready to turn a corner—assuming that corner does not detach mid-flight.
Corporate flight paths are rarely smooth, but Boeing is hoping the next landing sticks the fuselage.