First Day at the Office for New Boeing CEO

Kelly Ortberg starts his new role with a message to employees about ‘restoring trust’ with the public.

Meg Godlewski

Thursday, August 08, 2024 at 12:00 PM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

The FAA brought in several outside sources to review Boeing's safety culture and found it lacking in many places, including internal oversight. [ Ian Dewar Photography/Shutterstock]

Key Takeaways:

Kelly Ortberg has taken over as Boeing's new president and CEO, immediately prioritizing the restoration of public trust and improving product quality and safety.
Boeing's reputation and finances have been significantly damaged by recent high-profile safety incidents, including the 737 Max crashes and the Alaska Airlines door plug incident.
Ortberg is basing himself in Seattle, near the main manufacturing facilities, and began his tenure with a hands-on approach on the factory floor, signalling a strategic pivot back to prioritizing manufacturing quality and transparency.

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Thursday marked the first day on the job for Kelly Ortberg, the new president and CEO of Boeing. Ortberg began role with a message to Boeing employees acknowledging that the company will have to work hard to regain the public’s trust.

“Restoring trust starts with meeting our commitments, whether that’s building high-quality, safe commercial aircraft, delivering on defense and space products that allow our customers to meet their mission, or servicing our products to keep our customers running 24/7,” Ortberg’s message said. “It also means meeting our commitments to each other and working collaboratively across Boeing to meet our goals. People’s lives depend on what we do every day, and we must keep that top of mind with every decision we make.”