Here’s who could replace Calhoun at the plane maker

Help wanted at Boeing.

CEO Dave Calhoun on Monday announced he is stepping down from the aerospace giant’s top post at year’s end as the company struggles with a safety and production quality crisis tied to its best-selling airplane, the 737 Max. Boeing said it will begin a search for Calhoun’s replacement.

Boeing also announced Monday it’s replacing board chair Larry Kellner and the chief executive of its all-important commercial airplanes unit, Stan Deal.

Calhoun told CNBC on Monday that the decision to retire was “100%” his own and that he would be involved in finding his successor. Four-year Boeing board member Steve Mollenkopf, ex-Qualcomm CEO who will take over as independent chairman of the board, will lead the search.

Calhoun’s departure isn’t much of a surprise given the struggles of the last few months.

Boeing’s customers had grown frustrated under Calhoun’s watch as they faced the fallout from recurring quality issues. He was appointed as CEO a little more than four years ago to get the manufacturing giant in order after two fatal Max crashes in 2018 and 2019.

One quality problem after another has surfaced spanning other programs like the 787 Dreamliner and the two 747s that will serve as Air Force One aircraft. With supply chain issues, quality lapses and more regulator scrutiny in the wake of a panel blowout from an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 in January, airplane deliveries are arriving late, and airline executives say the problems have forced them to change their growth and fleet plans.

Boeing’s stock is down more than 26% this year, and its CFO last week warned it’s burning more cash than it expected.

“We need someone to fix Boeing,” one major airline executive told CNBC after Boeing announced the management shake-up on Monday. “They unequivocally needed a change.”

Executives at Boeing’s customers told CNBC they want Boeing’s new leader to have manufacturing acumen, expertise in the highly regulated and technical world of aviation, and, perhaps most difficult of all, the ability to rally Boeing’s employees and ensure a culture of safety, consistency and innovation.

“This is going to be a challenging role to fill. You’re going to need someone with a huge amount of energy and commitment,” said John Plueger, CEO of Air Lease, a major buyer of Boeing planes that leases them to airlines. “You don’t want somebody for two years. You want someone at the head of the ship for as long as possible.”

The next boss at Boeing will have to contend not just with the company’s internal struggles but lost market share to rival Airbus. Meanwhile, China has been pushing ahead with building its own commercial aircraft.

“I want somebody who knows how to handle a big, long-cycled business like ours,” Calhoun told CNBC in an interview on Monday while announcing his departure. “It’s not just the production of the airplane. It’s the development of the next airplane. Our next lead is going to develop … the next airplane for the Boeing company.”

Financial analysts applauded the amount of time Boeing is giving itself to find Calhoun’s replacement.

“It provides leadership continuity, which a knee-jerk change would not, and CEO Dave Calhoun clearly is on board with the need to bolster safety,” said TD Cowen analyst Cai von Rumohr, in a note on Monday. Analysts said other board changes are possible, too, and Von Rumohr said the board could consider bringing Boeing’s headquarters back to Seattle, where most of its commercial aircraft production is.

While Boeing didn’t comment on its top candidates, here’s who some aviation experts say could potentially lead Boeing:

General Electric CEO Larry Culp is “probably at the top of the list for a Boeing CEO,” said Richard Aboulafia, managing director at Aerodynamic Advisory, an aviation consulting firm.

Pat Shanahan, the interim CEO of Spirit AeroSystems, is another possibility, Aboulafia said.

Aboulafia also mentioned Carrier CEO and chairman David Gitlin, who serves on Boeing’s board.

Stephanie Pope, who was recently promoted to chief operating officer after serving as head of Boeing’s Global Services unit, is the most obvious internal option to succeed Calhoun. (Former Boeing CFO Greg Smith retired from the company in 2021. He was also seen as a possible successor.)