By Dan Catchpole
SEATTLE (Reuters) -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.
The crisis had deepened after a mid-air 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 co