Boeing needs to start designing a new plane soon to help turn things around, former CEO says
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- Boeing should start designing a new plane as soon as possible, a former CEO has said.
- Phil Condit told The Wall Street Journal that working on a new plane could boost morale.
- In recent years, Boeing has only updated past models rather than designed entirely new planes.
A former Boeing CEO has called for the company to start designing a new plane as soon as possible to help change its fortunes.
Phil Condit, who led the planemaker from 1996 to 2003, told The Wall Street Journal, "You've got to get people excited about what they're doing. You don't come to work just for a paycheck. You come to work because you care about what you're doing."
Condit was asked as part of an article that asked several industry leaders how Boeing could turn things around after a difficult year.
Boeing's share price fell 31% in 2024 — the worst performer on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It faced a wave of scrutiny from customers and regulators after a door plug came off an Alaska Airlines 737 Max in midair last January. A seven-week strike, further limiting aircraft production, compounded its problems.
The resolution of the strike included a commitment that Boeing's next commercial airplane would be built in the Seattle area — if a new program is launched during the term of the agreement.
Boeing last announced a new plane model more than 20 years ago — the 787 Dreamliner — which entered commercial service in 2011.
In the years since, the planemaker has instead worked on planes which are updates to previous models — but these have come with problems.
The 737 Max is the fourth-generation descendant of a single-aisle airliner designed in the 1960s.
The 737 Max suffered two crashes in 2018 and 2019, in which 346 people died.
MCAS, a software that played a major role in the crashes, was added because the Max had a tendency to tilt upward in some scenarios — linked to the addition of new, larger engines.
In 2019, The New York Times reported that the 737 Max program was hurried to compete with rival Airbus' A320neo, which broke records at 2011's Paris Air Show.
Boeing's next plane is set to be the 777X — a modernized version of the world's most popular wide-body jet, the 777.
However, it has been beset by certification delays. Initially set to enter service in 2020, Boeing announced last October this has been pushed back to 2026.
Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.