United Airlines CEO Expresses “Renewed Confidence” In Boeing After Lunch With New Leader

scott kirby

After being harshly critical of Boeing in light of the Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 incident and a string of production and delivery delays, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby has softened his tone.

United Airlines CEO Expresses Confidence In New Boeing Leader

Kirby sat down for lunch with Kelly Ortberg, the new President and CEO of Boeing. With 418 unfilled orders, United is one of Boeing’s most important customers. Ortberg comes to Boeing from Rockwell Collins, also a commercial and defense contractor, and has more than three decades of aerospace experience.

Writing on LinkedIN, Kirby reflected on the lunch:

Earlier this week, I had lunch with Kelly Ortberg, newly appointed President and CEO at Boeing, and was not only encouraged by what I heard, but I also came away with a renewed confidence that Boeing is on the right path and will recover faster than most expect.

His engineering background at Rockwell Collins, combined with an instinct to be close to his frontline teams in Seattle, makes for a winning combination. It was clear from our discussion that he’s 100% engaged, understands the cultural changes needed to turn things around and is committed to listening to his employees and customers.

Boeing’s 170,000+ employees have the expertise, drive, and commitment to get the company back to being one of the best and most important brands in the world.

And Kelly is the right leader to take them there.

This is quite a striking change in language from Kirby warning that Boeing’s blunders represented “the straw that broke the camel’s back” for United and the 737 MAX 10 program.


> Read More: United Airlines CEO Clarifies Future Of Boeing 737 MAX 10


It also strikes me that Ortberg and Kirby seem very hands-on, detail-oriented, and sharp men (a different role for a different time than the more folksy Oscar Munoz, the former United CEO, or David Calhoun, the former Boeing CEO).

Ortberg is on the apology tour and also met with American Airlines CEO Robert Isom earlier this week. He has chosen to be based in Seattle, unlike previous Boeing leaders.

CONCLUSION

While Kirby was certainly going to give Boeing’s new CEO a chance, his strong endorsement of Ortberg is hopefully more than a strategic peace offering…for the sake of United and the sake of Boeing, let’s hope the new sheriff in town is serious about restoring credibility at beleaguered Boeing.

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