Boeing Fires CEO Dennis Muilenburg After The 737 Max Crisis

Boeing ousted CEO Dennis Muilenburg and replaced him with the company’s chairman. The nation’s biggest manufacturing exporter is struggling to regain the trust of regulators after two plane crashes killing over 300 passengers and an aborted mission to the International Space Station among other things.

Muilenburg stepped down immediately and 62 years old Chairman David Calhoun will take over as CEO on January 13. Greg Smith, CFO of Boeing will serve as interim CEO. The company didn’t comment anything on Muilenburg’s severance but an earlier filling showed he could be eligible for around $39 million.

The problems started with the first crash in 2018. Boeing boasted that their 737 Max Jet was the fastest-selling plane in history with about 5,000 orders from more than 100 customers worldwide. The aircraft could not live up the hype and instead crashed resulting in loss of lives. After studying the data from the plane’s black box it was revealed that the pilots struggled to wrest control back from the aircraft’s automatic safety system.

There were reports about the crash and raised questioned about the new software in the jet as well the company’s rushed plan to bring the plane into the market. The concerns were brushed aside and then a second crash occurred, killing hundreds of passengers. Only after that, the company considered grounding the planes.

This led to Dennis Muilenburg being hauled before Congress as part of the investigation and the members of Congress aggressively grilled him about the fact that test pilots and others were aware of the plane’s defects. Both the Republicans and Democrats were in unison and jointly accused the company of putting profits ahead of passenger’s safety. Senator Richard Blumenthal accused the company and Muilenburg of putting passengers in “flying coffins as a result of Boeing decided to conceal MCAS from pilots.”