United Airlines chief executive Scott Kirby asserts that Boeing will rebound from its manufacturing and quality problems relatively quickly now that it is guided by new CEO Kelly Ortberg.
Kirby said in a 15 August social media post that he had met with Ortberg this week 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”.
Ortberg is an engineer by education who had been the CEO of Collins Aerospace until 2020, and most recently led Iowa-based avionics and information technology systems supplier Rockwell Collins.
Now, he is tasked with steadying Arlington, Virginia-based Boeing in the aftermath of the 5 January rapid de-pressurisation of Alaska Airlines flight 1282, caused by an improperly secured door plug that blew off the aircraft’s fuselage shortly after take-off.
The incident grounded the global fleet of 737 Max 9s for about a month and drew intense criticism from airlines and the flying public, in addition to heightened oversight by the Federal Aviation Administration. Former Boeing CEO David Calhoun stepped down from his position but has retained his seat on the company’s board of directors.
Ortberg spent his first day on the job meeting with Boeing employees at the airframer’s 737 Max factory in Renton, Washington, and then on 12 August toured the facilities of recently re-acquired fuselage supplier Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita, Kansas.
Boeing is betting that a closer relationship with Spirit will improve the quality of 737 fuselages entering its Renton factory.
“The Spirit team members I met are eager and focused on strengthening safety and quality and meeting customer commitments,” Ortberg said. ”We have the same goals. It’s clear this re-integration would improve stability and create better cohesion.”
Ortberg now appears to be meeting with the CEOs of some of Boeing’s biggest airline customers. United has 788 Boeing jets currently in service and nearly 500 more on order, according to Cirium fleets data.
Kirby counts himself among those impressed with Ortberg’s initial listening tour, lauding the new Boeing leader’s “instinct to be close to his front-line teams in Seattle”.
”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,” he says.
United is counting on Boeing returning to its former status as ”one of the best and most important brands in the world”, Kirby says. ”Kelly is the right leader to take them there.”
Other major Boeing operators in the USA include Alaska, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines.
