Read the full memo Boeing CEO sent to staff announcing he is stepping down
- Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun will step down at the end of 2024, he announced Monday.
- He has faced significant scrutiny over the Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 door blowout in January.
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun is stepping down.
Calhoun announced in a memo to staff on Monday that this year would be his last as CEO after four years at its helm.
Calhoun was appointed CEO of Boeing after the planemaker's former CEO, Dennis Muilenburg, stepped down in December 2019 following two crashes of another Max variant, the Max 8. The twin accidents killed 346 people.
He said that he had been considering "for some time" when to leave the company.
Calhoun didn't directly attribute his departure to the incident with Alaska Airlines flight 1282 in January, when a Boeing 737 Max 9 lost a door plug in midair, but he described it as a "watershed" moment.
After the blowout, the Federal Aviation Administration temporarily grounded 171 Max 9 planes with the same door plug and ordered Boeing to stop expanding its production of the 737 Max.
"The eyes of the world are on us," Calhoun wrote in the memo, emphasizing the importance of humility, "complete transparency," and a commitment to safety and quality.
Calhoun also said that Boeing Chair Larry Kellner wouldn't be standing for reelection, with Steve Mollenkopf elected by the board as his replacement. Calhoun added that Stan Deal, the CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, was retiring and would be replaced by Stephanie Pope, effective immediately.
Calhoun became the company's CEO and president in January 2020. He'd joined Boeing's board in 2009.
Read Calhoun's full memo to staff below.