(UnitedVoice.com) – Boeing doesn’t have the best reputation right now. The last several years have been hard on the company. From plane crashes to holes blown in the sides of full aircraft, travelers might not be confident they will get where they need to go when they board one of the flights. The company has seen its planes grounded at least twice in the last few years.
The company is now taking steps to fix the issues. One way is by shaking up the leadership at the top.
Boeing Shakeup
On February 21, Boeing announced Ed Clark, the head of the 737 Max program, was leaving his position immediately. Stan Deal, the CEO of the company’s commercial plane unit, sent a memo out to employees letting them know about the change.
Clark worked at the factory in Renton, Washington, where the production of the Max planes took place. He’d been in his position since 2021 when the company announced the acceleration of production for the plane, which includes the 737 Max 9 jet.
Clark’s leadership came at a critical time for the company after the Max plane was prohibited from being produced across the world for 20 months, which ended in November 2020. The ban came after two plane crashes that left 346 passengers and crew members dead overseas. In addition to killing hundreds of people, the crashes cost the company billions of dollars.
According to the memo, Katie Ringgold took over for Clark. She was previously in charge of the deliveries of 737 Max jets. Elizabeth Lund took on a new role overseeing quality control of all of the company’s commercial planes. Mike Fleming, the executive who oversaw the Max’s return after the grounding, is now in Lund’s old job as the head of the plane programs. Finally, Fleming’s previous position as vice president of development programs will now be handled by Don Ruhmann.
Recent Problems
In January, passengers boarded an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 flight in Oregon for a short flight to California. The plane climbed to 16,000 feet when, suddenly, a door plug blew out of the plane. The plug, which was covering an unused exit door, left a massive hole in the side of the jet.
A teenage boy sitting near the door had his shirt ripped off of his body from the force of the wind when the plug blew out. Fortunately, he was wearing a seatbelt and didn’t go the way of his shirt. After the incident, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered all of the Max 9 planes grounded while inspections were carried out. They were later allowed to fly again. A preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board found that four bolts were missing from the door plug, which allowed the part to come off.
Boeing is now left to repair its reputation once again.
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