Boeing CEO testifies at US Senate

A Boeing 737 MAX 8 is pictured outside the factory on March 11, 2019 in Renton, Washington. Stephen Brashear/Getty Images

Despite the attention Tuesday’s hearing about Boeing’s safety problems will garner, it’s not clear whether it will produce significant change at the company, said Richard Aboulafia, managing partner for AeroDynamic Consultancy, an aerospace advisory firm.

“Nothing has produced change (at Boeing) except frustration from a bunch of airline customers,” Aboulafia said. “I’m not sure what will change as a consequence of this. He (Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun) needs to go. He has shown a strong desire to double down on what’s bad.”

Calhoun announced plans to retire before the end of this year. His successor has yet to be selected. Calhoun said he has a preferred candidate but he has not publicly identified that person and said the decision is up to the search committee and Boeing’s board.

Aboulafia said the board has shown little indication of seeing a need to change the way things are done at Boeing, calling it a “board on autopilot.” The board approved a $32.8 million pay package for Calhoun in 2023, a 45% increase from the $22.6 million he received for 2022. And it could have been a lot more: He declined to accept his annual incentive bonus of $2.8 million – a request the board said he made after the Alaska Air incident.

At the end of the hearing Tuesday Calhoun pointed out that there have been changes among Boeing top mangers since the two fatal crashes and the grounding of the Max in 2019 and 2020, as well as additional management changes since the Alaska Air incident.

He defended using internal candidates from Boeing to fill the open positions.

“We try to select people who know a lot about airplanes,” he said.

But Senator Richard Blumenthal, the chairman of the subcommittee, argued that Boeing needed to turn to outsiders to make a true change in the culture at the company.