Tim Hefer and Alexander Cornwell
DUBAI (Reuters) – The head of Dubai airline Emirates has called on Boeing (NYSE:) to select an engineering and business heavyweight to lead a deep overhaul of the U.S. aerospace giant and said the challenge of ending the planemaker’s recent crisis of confidence “must be done.” .
“Can this be fixed and saved? Yes it is. Will this put things back where they need to be? That’s how it should be. And you can only do that with very strong leadership that is committed to doing the right thing.” – Emirates. President Tim Clark told reporters on the sidelines of a summit of major airlines.
It could take five years for the manufacturer to recover from a series of safety and industrial problems to the point where it can seamlessly meet existing and new demand, he said.
Emirates is the world’s largest buyer of long-haul aircraft for its Gulf hub.
Boeing is searching for a new CEO after announcing that Dave Calhoun would retire by the end of the year following back-to-back crises worsened by a loose door plug on an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 in January.
Clark, who has been one of Boeing’s harshest critics during the crisis, told Reuters he had never met Calhoun, who was named CEO in January 2020 after a pair of 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed nearly 350 Human.
Boeing did not provide any comment regarding his remarks.
In December, Boeing named Stephanie Pope to the newly created position of group chief operating officer, a move seen at the time as positioning her as a leading contender to succeed Calhoun at some point in the next few years.
Asked what he would like to see in a new Boeing CEO, Clark responded: “I think people who have really strong capabilities in aerospace engineering, who are also good business managers, are the people you want.” return and sort.” Whether Stephanie Pope can step up and do it (as well as) anyone else, time will tell.”
He added: “But we need the planes, we can’t face constant delays. “We have a business, and if we have to pay the bills to repair all these (existing) airplanes, it should go to Boeing.”
Emirates, the largest operator of the 777 family, is carrying out what it calls the largest cabin overhaul of existing aircraft as it awaits the first delivery of the Boeing 777X, which has been delayed by at least five years from 2020.
Clark said Boeing could not yet give an exact date for the plane’s first delivery. According to him, this will happen in 2025.
Clark said he plans to meet with Pope in her capacity as Boeing’s newly appointed aircraft chief on the sidelines of the International Air Transport Association’s annual meeting in Dubai over the next two days.
Pope’s Global Services unit was Boeing’s only profitable unit in the first nine months of 2023.
In March, following the bombing incident, the company announced Calhoun’s planned departure earlier than expected and named Pope head of its commercial aircraft division, replacing Stan Deal, who was fired in the same shake-up.
Analysts say Pope is still being mentioned in some circles as a contender for the CEO role, along with several outside contenders, including Spirit AeroSystems (NYSE:) CEO Pat Shanahan.
(This story has been corrected to say “date” in paragraph 12, not “delivery”, and paragraph 13 to say “Clark”, not “Emirates”).