The Supply Chain Matters blog provides an added update to reports of airline industry executives publicly calling for a management shake-up at commercial aircraft manufacturer Boeing.

In a prior Supply Chain Matters blog commentary published on May 7, we noted that the pressures focusing on Boeing are growing with each week, and with every additional announcement as to lack of confidence. When influential customers become more openly vocal expressing candid comments, and when regulators continue to lack confidence in current direction, something has to give.

We indicated that beyond subtleties and toward genuine industry and supply network concerns, Boeing remains a commercial aircraft manufacturer with a host of significant financial, operational and corporate culture challenges not the least of which is directly attributed to leadership.

A further report published by Bloomberg this week quotes the colorful CEO of Ryanair Holdings as once again bluntly indicating that the company needs a management shakeup.

The report notes that Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary openly shared: “some of the most pointed comments since the firm recently revealed that its 777X widebody won’t arrive until 2025 and that the short haul 737 Max 10 may suffer long delays if it misses a key certification deadline.”

The specific quote by O’Leary that caught our attention was: “Boeing needs a management reboot in Seattle, and either the existing management needs to up its game or they need to change the existing management.” Seattle was an apparent reference to the company’s commercial aircraft business unit management.

Reportedly, the Ryanair CEO indicated that the airline had planned to receive delivery of all of ordered Boeing 737 Max aircraft by April of this year in order to support a summer schedule of flights. Boeing apparently did not perform to expectation, forcing Ryanair to reduce some summer capacity.

O’Leary, known for being outspoken and a hard negotiator reportedly stopped short for calling for the ouster of Boeing CEO David Calhoun providing that the company improves on its performance over the past 12 months.

Since our prior update, the Chairman of Air Lease Corp. reportedly indicated last week that ongoing issues related to the stalled production and delivery levels of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner have become a major annoyance and that management changes are likely.

 

Added Thoughts

As expressed in our prior commentary, the pressures focusing on Boeing are growing with each passing week, and with every additional announcement from influential customers. This is indeed moving beyond subtleties and toward genuine industry and supply network concerns, and such words imply that a shakeup may likely already be in the works.

For Boeing’s supply chain network partners, added stability, a more predictable production and delivery plan are likely an ongoing concern as well, especially as industry rival Airbus aggressively seeks to take advantage of Boeing’s ongoing missteps by stepping-up monthly aircraft delivery rates in the coming months.

 

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