United Airlines CEO Encouraged After Meeting With Boeing’s New Leader
SUMMARY
United Airlines CEO says Boeing is on the right path with CEO Kelly Ortberg at the helm.
Ortberg’s engineering background brings renewed confidence to the troubled company’s future.
Kirby and others believe Ortberg’s decision to be based out of Seattle will give him a “hands-on approach” to fixing the company.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby is speaking out after meeting with Boeing’s new CEO, Kelly Ortberg. After the two spent time over lunch earlier this week, Kirby expressed that he has a “renewed confidence” that the planemaker is headed in the right direction.
The Chicago-based airline is a major operator of Boeing aircraft. It currently has nearly 500 narrowbody planes developed by the company, with several hundred more on order.
“Boeing is on the right path”
Kirby shared his comments in a LinkedIn post on Thursday. The executive explained that some may be surprised at how fast Boeing’s path to recovery will be with Ortberg at the helm.
“Earlier this week, I had lunch with Kelly Ortberg, newly appointed President and CEO at Boeing, and was not only encouraged by what I heard, but I also came away with a renewed confidence that Boeing is on the right path and will recover faster than most expect.”
Boeing has been attempting to rebuild its reputation for several years. Simple Flying previously reported that the company planned to plead guilty to criminal charges related to the deadly 737 MAX 8 crashes that occured in 2018 and 2019. The crashes, which resulted in 346 fatalities, led to the aircraft type being grounded for over a year. As the manufacturer was able to amend the flight control issue that caused the crashes and have the aircraft return to the air, it would later deal with another grounding.
Earlier this year, an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 suffered a door plug blowout that could have been deadly if the plane was flying at a higher altitude. The incident rocked the industry and prompted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to ground the variant for more than seven months. Investigations revealed that Boeing had compromised its production quality of the aircraft, while whistleblowers alleged that the company cut corners and threatened retaliation.
Background in finance vs. background in engineering
Boeing’s former CEO, Dave Calhoun, has faced intense scrutiny for his leadership of the company – with even some of the family members of the victims from the deadly 737 MAX crashes referring to him as a criminal. The ex-CEO, who stepped into the role with a background in finance, was replaced by Ortberg, who has a background in engineering.
“His engineering background at Rockwell Collins, combined with an instinct to be close to his frontline teams in Seattle, makes for a winning combination,” Kirby wrote. “It was clear from our discussion that he’s 100% engaged, understands the cultural changes needed to turn things around and is committed to listening to his employees and customers.”