Boeing names new board chairman in setback to CEO Dennis Muilenburg

Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg has lost his title as chairman of troubled aircraft manufacturer, nearly a year after first of two crashes of its 737 Max that toger killed 346 people. Boeing anunced late Friday that company directors decided to separate two jobs and elected one of ir own, David L. Calhoun, to serve as n-executive chairman. Earlier on Friday, a panel of international aviation regulators issued a report critical of Boeing and Federal Aviation ministration over how Max was approved to fly. group said Boeing failed to equately inform FAA about changes to a key flight-control system implicated in accidents. Muilenburg said in a statement that he supported splitting CEO and chairman jobs.

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board has full confidence in Dennis: Calhoun 

“ board has full confidence in Dennis as CEO and believes this division of labor will enable maximum focus on running business with board playing an active oversight role,” Calhoun said in a statement issued by company. board in April opposed a shareholder resolution to split jobs amid criticism over Boeing’s response to accidents. measure was rejected by a 2-to-1 margin. Max was Boeing’s best-selling plane until being grounded worldwide in March after crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. company has set aside billions to compensate airlines affected by grounding. Justice Department and Congress are investigating company, which also faces dozens of lawsuits by families of passengers who died in crashes.

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Muilenburg is scheduled to testify October 30

Muilenburg is scheduled to testify October 30 before a House committee looking into plane’s certification. Boeing was initially optimistic that Max could return to flight this spring, but work to fix flight software took longer than expected. In June, FAA test pilots discovered ar problem in plane’s computers, extending grounding. Muilenburg said recently that Boeing expected plane to be back in service by early in fourth quarter, but company still hasn’t formally submitted its fixes to regulators. U.S. airlines don’t expect plane back until at least January, and it could be longer in or countries. Chicago-based Boeing is one of two companies that dominate building of large airliners; Europe’s Airbus is or. Boeing is also a major defense contractor. It has more than 150,000 employees.

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