Boeing HQ
Today’s key stories include United’s CEO expressing confidence in Boeing, and El Al finalizing their 737 MAX order. United’s CEO Scott Kirby and Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg had lunch earlier today, and Kirby made positive comments about Ortberg’s leadership and Boeing’s ability to execute a turn-around.
In other positive news, El Al, Israel’s flag carrier, finalized its order for 20 firm plus 11 options for the 737 MAX first announced in June. This is the largest order in the carrier’s history and cements a seven-decade relationship with Boeing.
Dave Calhoun, now retired as Boeing’s CEO, has apparently agreed to a one to one meeting with a whistleblower in a major change in policy at the company. Calhoun, who remains on the Board, is a bit late in this process, as it is no longer on his watch. That is also a positive move to help change the culture, as whistleblowers have typically been vilified and harassed at Boeing. Perhaps Kelly Ortberg is having a rapid influence on the culture, and is forcing change within the company. In our view, “it’s about time.”
The DOJ is pushing hard to have the judge accept the Boeing plea deal, despite objections by victim families. Boeing clearly wants to get this behind them, and the sweetheart nature of the deal, given the consequences of 346 fatalities and non-performance with respect to safety improvements. Is this a sweep under the rug for a “too big to fail” situation?
The Space operations are in the news for both the rocket joint venture with Lockheed, United Launch Alliance and the ill-fated Starliner. The ULA JV is not meeting its profitability targets and is losing staff, and it doesn’t appear that Lockheed Martin is interesting in taking it off Boeing’s hands. This is another turnaround situation that Boeing doesn’t need as its struggles with it commercial aircraft division.
Finally, NASA cannot quantify the risk of Starliner propulsion issues, and will make its decision on how to return the astronauts by the end of August.
Links to today’s key stories follow:
- United CEO expresses confidence in Boeing after meeting new boss Ortberg – Yahoo
- El Al formalizes deal with Boeing for 737 MAX – AirInsight
- Boeing’s ex-CEO is set for a ‘historic’ one-to-one meeting with an employee who blew the whistle on its safety culture – Business Insider
- Government pushes to finalize Boeing plea despite crash victim families’ opposition – Inc.
- The Pentagon’s top rocket launcher is behind profit goals and losing staff – BNN Bloomberg
- NASA acknowledges it cannot quantify risk of Starliner propulsion issues – ars technica
