United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby celebrates the opening of a recent addition to its Flight Training Center in Denver, Colorado, on Feb. 22, 2024.
Hyoung Chang | Denver Post | Getty Images
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby says he’s optimistic about Boeing‘s recovery after meeting with the manufacturer’s recent chief executive.
It’s an upbeat change of tune from the pinnacle of United, a top Boeing customer that has been amongst essentially the most publicly frustrated in regards to the plane maker’s problems, which have led to delayed deliveries of dozens of aircraft.
Kirby and Boeing’s recent CEO, Robert “Kelly” Ortberg, had lunch earlier this week within the Dallas area. Kirby said in a LinkedIn post on Thursday that he “was not only encouraged by what I heard, but I also got here away with a renewed confidence that Boeing is on the appropriate path and can get well faster than most expect.”
United has 484 unfilled orders with Boeing, in keeping with the manufacturer’s website.
Ortberg also met with American Airlines CEO Robert Isom earlier this week, in keeping with an individual conversant in the matter who wasn’t authorized to talk with the media.
Ortberg, who previously ran industrial and defense supplier Rockwell Collins and has greater than three a long time of experience within the aerospace industry, took the reins at Boeing every week ago, spending a part of his first day at Boeing’s 737 factory floor in Renton, Washington. Ortberg will likely be based in Seattle, a shift from previous leaders.
“His engineering background at Rockwell Collins, combined with an instinct to be near his frontline teams in Seattle, makes for a winning combination,” Kirby wrote on Thursday. “It was clear from our discussion that he’s 100% engaged, understands the cultural changes needed to show things around and is committed to listening to his employees and customers.”
United and other major customers akin to Southwest Airlines have been grappling with delayed jetliners as Boeing tries to get well from its latest safety crisis within the wake of a door plug blowout on an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 earlier this 12 months.
Nobody was seriously injured within the accident — which occurred after bolts that hold the door plug in place weren’t installed before the airline received the plane — nevertheless it got here after a number of other manufacturing defects on Boeing planes.
“In speaking with our customers and industry partners leading as much as today, I can inform you that without exception, everyone wants us to succeed,” Ortberg said in a note to staff on his first day last Thursday. “In lots of cases, they NEED us to succeed.”
