Tumultuous First Two Months for New Boeing CEO Marred in Strikes and Layoffs

Kelly Ortberg took the helm as CEO of Boeing back on August 8^th but his brief tenure as the head of the airline giant has been nothing short of difficult. Since 2015, Boeing has experienced three CEO’s, the previous two, Dennis Muilenburg (2015 – 2019) and Dave Calhoun (2020 – 2024) either were fired or forced to step down.

Muilenburg was fired after two deadly crashes of the 737 MAX and subsequent groundings while Calhoun stepped down due to multiple factors, mainly due to the negative reputation Boeings planes was quickly gaining.

The latest CEO, Ortberg, started off his tenure with plenty of turbulence. Boeings union strike which began in mid-September recently crossed the one-month mark. The strike involved around 33 thousand members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM).

The strike is largely due to disagreements over labor conditions and management decisions at Boeing, including dissatisfaction with pay and job security concerns.

As a result, Boeing has experienced significant disruptions, leading to delays in key projects like the 777X aircraft, and Ortberg announced a 10% workforce reduction to cope with the financial losses​ within “the coming months.”

The strike is reportedly costing Boeing more than $1 billion a month according to S&P Global Ratings estimations.

In September, before the strike, Boeing officials were upbeat about finalizing a deal before the vote on the 13^th. The deal did not go through as 95 percent of workers voted against the initial labor deal.

Boeing is currently seeing their stock price fall more and more as they burn through cash and the stoppage in aircraft manufacturing has led to hinder the company’s cash flow.

To make matters more critical, Ortberg is to face investors as Boeing’s CEO for the first time on October 23.