Boeing Fires CEO Dennis Muilenburg

McGruber writes: The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Boeing Corporation fired its Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg (Warning: source paywalled; alternative source) as the company struggles to contain the fallout of its biggest crisis in decades, caused by two fatal crashes and the subsequent grounding of its 737 MAX jetliner. Boeing said David Calhoun, a longtime Boeing director with deep ties to the aviation and private-equity industries, will become CEO on January 13. “Regulators had criticized Mr. Muilenburg’s efforts to reassure customers and the financial community that government approval of a fix for the MAX was coming soon — optimism that repeatedly proved misplaced,” reports The Wall Street Journal. “The new leadership team made it clear in public statements Monday that they won’t get ahead of regulators in predicting the return to service of the 737 MAX after its grounding in March following twin crashes that claimed 346 lives.” “An engineer by training, Mr. Muilenburg appeared to often rely heavily on data and legal advice rather than diplomacy in formulating his response to the escalating crisis, and his approach sometimes exacerbated friction with customers and regulators. His relationship with FAA leaders deteriorated to the point that about two weeks ago agency chief Steve Dickson publicly called out the company’s failures to provide complete and timely data supporting proposed MAX software fixes.”