CEO pulled Boeing out of crises, but new challenges approach

One year after taking the helm during Boeing's deepest crisis in decades, CEO Kelly Ortberg has stopped the company's freefall. Now, he faces new challenges: ramping up jet production, reviving a struggling defense and space division, and restoring profitability at the storied planemaker. Ortberg was comfortably retired in Florida when Boeing's board offered him the top job at a company bleeding cash and reeling from reputational damage.

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The crisis had deepened after a midair panel blowout on a new 737 MAX in January 2024, prompting his predecessor's exit and reviving memories of two fatal MAX crashes - in 2018 and 2019 - that killed 346 people.

Ortberg arrived promising to restore trust, stay close to the factory floor, and ensure Boeing met its commitments to safety, quality, and transparency. Since then, Boeing has notched a string of wins: it has improved efficiency and quality on the 737 line, navigated President Donald Trump's trade policies, reached a deal with the US Department of Justice to drop its prosecution over the crashes, signed blockbuster plane deals, and landed the contract for the U.S.' first sixth-generation fighter, the F-47.

Its stock is up 398 from a year ago, with the biggest gains coming in recent months as 737 output has risen.

But Boeing is still losing money, trailing Airbus in the single-aisle market, struggling to fix its space and defense programs, carrying heavy debt, acquiring its biggest supplier, Spirit AeroSystems, and falling behind on certifying its newest jets. Ortberg's immediate challenge is to ramp up production of the 737 MAX to pre-crisis levels and beyond - while positioning Boeing to eventually replace it with a new model.