Boeing CEO Muilenburg fired to 'restore confidence' of public, regulators

Boeing fired its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dennis Muilenburg, in an apparent attempt to restore the confidence of the public and the regulators amid the ongoing crisis. Muilenburg had worked for Boeing for more than three decades but the flawed 737 Max aeroplane tightened the scrutiny by the Federal Aviation Administration which forced the company to let go its 55-year-old CEO.

"The Board of Directors decided that a change in leadership was necessary to restore confidence in the Company moving forward as it works to repair relationships with regulators, customers, and all other stakeholders,” said the company in a statement as it faces multiple lawsuits brought by the families of victims died in the crashes.

“Under the Company's new leadership, Boeing will operate with a renewed commitment to full transparency, including effective and proactive communication with the FAA, other global regulators and its customers," it added.

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Report on mishap

In September, Federal safety investigators said that Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration misjudged how pilots would respond to a flurry of alarms and alerts in case of encountering trouble while flying 737 MAX. After two MAX 8 aircraft crashed, claiming 346 lives, Boeing 737 MAX was grounded around the world. The report was prepared by an independent government agency, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

Read: Boeing Gets FAA Message, Will Halt Max Production In January

The NTSB made several recommendations including place design, pilot training based on pilot response. NTSB, in its report, said that clearer ‘failure indications’ should be provided to facilitate improved response. The NTSB recommended to develop and incorporate the use of “robust tools and methods” for validating assumptions about a pilot’s response to aeroplane failures as part of design certification. 

“We saw in these two accidents that the crews did not react in the ways Boeing and the FAA assumed they would,” said NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt.

Sumwalt said that a gap was found between the assumptions used to certify MAX and the real-world experiences of crews. He also clarified that the report only addressed the issue and has not analyzed the actions of pilots involved in those crash.

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Read: US Aviation Chief Says Boeing 737 MAX Won't Be Recertified Until 2020