Boeing has announced top management changes in the wake of a deepening crisis over the deadly crashes involving its bestselling 737 MAX jets.

New appointments

In a statement, the American planemaker said it is replacing Kevin McAllister with Stan Deal as president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Ted Colbert was appointed CEO of Boeing Global Services and Vishwa Uddanwadiker will take over Colbert's former role as interim chief information officer and senior vice president of information technology and data analytics.

“Our entire Boeing team is focused on operational excellence, aligned with our values of safety, quality and integrity, and we're committed to delivering on our commitments and regaining trust with our regulators, customers and other stakeholders,” Boeing president and CEO Dennis Muilenburg said.

“Stan brings extensive operational experience at Commercial Airplanes and trusted relationships with our airline customers and industry partners, and Ted brings to our Global Services business an enterprise approach to customers and strong digital business expertise — a key component of our long-term growth plans,” he added.

 The new appointments, dated October 22, were to be effective immediately. 

McAllister, who led the division, currently plunged in a crisis after two 737 MAX planes crashed in Indonesia and Ethiopia, was fired after less than three years in the position.

“Boeing is a great company with a commitment to safety I have seen firsthand working side-by-side with many thousands of tremendously talented and dedicated employees ... it has been an honour to serve with such a professional team for the past three years,” he said in a statement.

Anti-stall MCAS software update

Meanwhile, as part of its update on the 737 MAX, Boeing said it has made “significant progress” over the past several months in support of safely returning the 737 MAX to service.

The planemaker reiterated it is continuously working with the FAA and other global regulators on the process laid out for certifying the 737 MAX software and related training updates. The company has also made governance and operational changes to further sharpen its focus on safety — including the new appointments.

“We updated the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation Software (MCAS) on the MAX by adding three additional layers of protection that will prevent accidents like these from ever happening again,” Boeing said in a separate statement.

To date, Boeing noted that it has conducted more than 800 test and production flights with the updated software, totalling more than 1,500 hours.

The company is also making steady progress on the second software update announced in June for additional flight control computer redundancy with 445 participants from more than 140 customers and regulators, including the FAA, participating in simulator sessions to experience the proposed MCAS software update.

Just last week the company successfully conducted a dry-run of a certification flight test, it added.

“We continue to make steady progress in safely returning the 737 MAX to service. Our Boeing teams are unwavering in their commitment to our customers and our values, and the changes we’re implementing now will further strengthen our approach to safety across our company and the aerospace community,” said Muilenburg said.

The commercial aeroplane unit accounted for 60% of Boeing’s more than US$101 billion in revenue last year.