Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun to step down at end of year amid plane-maker's woes

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun will step down from the embattled plane-maker at the end of the year as part of a broader management shuffle, capping a tumultuous five-plus years that have shaken faith in one of the U.S.'s most-storied manufacturers.

In a letter to employees announcing his departure, Calhoun wrote that the company is focused on returning Boeing "to stability after the extraordinary challenges of the past five years, with safety and quality at the forefront of everything that we do."

Stan Deal, president and CEO of Boeing's commercial airplanes unit, will retire from the company immediately with Stephanie Pope, the company's chief operating officer, now leading the division. Board chair Larry Kellner has also told the company he doesn't plan to stand for re-election in May. 

Boeing has come under intense pressure since early January, when a panel blew off a brand-new Alaska Airlines 737 Max. Investigators say bolts that help keep the panel in place were missing after repair work at the Boeing factory.

The Federal Aviation Administration has stepped up its scrutiny of the company, including putting a limit on production of 737s, its marquee aircraft. The agency recently ordered an audit of assembly lines at a Boeing factory near Seattle, where the company builds planes such as the Alaska Airlines 737 Max.

Fallout from the Jan. 5 blowout has raised scrutiny of Boeing to its highest level since a pair of 737 Max jets crashed, killing hundreds of people in Indonesia and Ethiopia in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Some investors expressed concern that the management shake-up would not be enough to address long-standing safety issues that were the reason for Calhoun's ascendance to CEO in the first place in 2020.

"We've long thought that the issues at Boeing have been seated in cultural challenges," said Cameron Dawson, chief investment officer at Newedge Wealth.

Meanwhile, other analysts viewed the shakeup as a positive for shareholders in anticipation of a new CEO from outside the company's existing management. 

Boeing Airlines' "culture of quality and manufacturing has been called into question over recent issues, and a new, outside perspective on operations could be encouraging for investors," wrote Stephen Strackhouse of RBC Capital Markets.

When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Boeing directed CBC News to Calhoun's letter and a company news release.

The management shuffle was inevitable given the harm done to Boeing's reputation as a jewel in the crown of the U.S. and its economy, said Ian Lee, an associate professor at Carleton University's Sprott School of Business.

"The CEO's job of any company is to create value, not destroy value. And in allowing these problems to fester and get worse, they were destroying value," Lee told CBC News.

"The share price of Boeing is down very dramatically. Customers are unbelievably angry. And that's why the situation was completely unsustainable and it was inevitable."