Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun announces he’ll step down after Alaska Airlines door plug disaster and 737 MAX crises: Stocks jump as two other executives also quit

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun will step down at the end of this year as part of a management change for the aircraft giant.

Calhoun, the chairman of the board and the head of the commercial airlines division are all leaving due to ongoing safety issues with the 737 MAX.

Wall Street responded positively to the news, with shares up 4 percent in premarket trading at 8:45 a.m. EST.

The company has been hit by problems, including a near-catastrophic incident on January 5, when a fuselage panel on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft blew off mid-flight.

No one was seriously injured, but the plane had to make an emergency landing with a gaping hole in the cabin.

Since then, the company has faced questions following several other potentially dangerous episodes, but regulators, airlines and passengers have been frustrated by Calhoun’s lack of answers. Shares had fallen 25 percent since the incident.

On January 5, a panel blew out of the fuselage of a 737 Max 9 plane carrying Alaska Airlines passengers

Alaska Airlines has resumed service on the Boeing 737 MAX 9 after a three-week shutdown in the aftermath of an emergency landing on January 5

Chairman Larry Kellner is resigning and will depart at the airline’s annual meeting in May.

Steve Mollenkopf, who has been Boeing’s director since 2020, will take over as chairman and lead the search for a replacement for Calhoun.

The plane maker also said Stan Deal, Boeing’s president and CEO of commercial aircraft, would retire. Stephanie Pope, who recently became Boeing’s Chief Operating Officer, will assume that role.

In a letter to staff after announcing he would resign, Calhoun referred to “putting safety and quality first in everything we do.”

He added, “The eyes of the world are on us, and I know we will get through this moment in better company.”

After the news broke, Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth, said: “They need more than just a shake-up at the CEO and chairman of the board level… they’re just paralyzed in taking of decisions.’

Last week, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration blasted Boeing for focusing on “production” instead of “safety and quality.”

Administrator Michael Whitaker was unimpressed with the aerospace giant after visiting its facilities.

“My impressions were similar to the culture review just completed at Boeing and our audit, which is that there are issues around the safety culture at Boeing,” he told Lester Holt. NBC Nightly News in a segment airing Tuesday night.

‘Their priorities were production, and not safety and quality. So what we’re really focused on now is shifting that focus, from production to safety and quality.’

The FAA has been keeping a close eye on the company and recently ordered an audit of the assembly lines at a Boeing plant near Seattle, where the company builds planes such as the Alaska Airlines 737 Max that has a blowout in the door panels incurred.

Investigators say there were bolts holding the panel in place missing after repair work at the Boeing factory.

The incident has raised attention on Boeing to its highest level since two crashes of Boeing 737 Max jets in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people.

Meanwhile, airline CEOs began scheduling meetings with Boeing management last week. In addition to concerns about production problems, they are also increasingly frustrated by the reduction in the number of aircraft delivered this year.

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun has been forced to resign after security questions mounted for the company

Southwest previously expected 79 737 Max planes this year, but that forecast was reduced to 46

The Federal Aviation Administration has limited production of the 737 Max due to safety concerns

Since a door plug blew out of a Boeing 737 Max during an Alaska Airlines flight in January, Boeing has lurched from crisis to crisis — and its stock has fallen by a quarter.

While they investigate what went wrong, federal investigators have limited production of 737 Max planes — meaning U.S. airlines won’t get all the planes expected before the summer.

So far this year, Boeing has delivered just 42 planes to customers, despite a backlog of more than 4,700 orders.

Meanwhile, shares of United Airlines fell about 5 percent in premarket trading Monday after the FAA increased scrutiny of the airline following a series of recent safety incidents.

Last week, the FAA said it would launch a formal review to ensure the Chicago-based airline was complying with safety regulations.