Boeing CEO Acknowledges That Trust in the Company Has Eroded

As a tumultuous year winds down for Boeing, the manufacturer’s CEO is acknowledging that “trust in our company has eroded.”

Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg made his remarks on Wednesday, while also revealing a plan for the aerospace company to try and correct course and become a leader in the industry again, according to Fox News.

Ortberg’s comments come at a time when Boeing’s machinists have walked off the job, causing Boeing a significant production loss. That adds to an already challenging year, which began with the mid-air blowout of a door panel on a 737 MAX plane made by Boeing.

The company is experiencing significant financial challenges, including a difficult third quarter and recently having to borrow money from a consortium of banks to stay afloat. Boeing is now struggling to prevent its credit rating from being downgraded to “junk” status.

Ortberg touched on the financial challenges Boeing faces during his remarks, stating that the company is "saddled with too much debt.”

The CEO also underscored that trust in Boeing has been undermined because of "serious lapses in our performance across the company which have disappointed many of our customers."

In order to address these challenges, Ortberg says there will need to be a "fundamental culture change" at Boeing. Correcting course will also require steps to stabilize the business and improve execution, Ortberg said.

"Our leaders, from me on down, need to be closely integrated with our business and the people who are doing the design and production of our products. We need to be on th, in the back shops, and in our engineering labs," Ortberg said. "We need to know what's going on, not only with our products, but with our people. And most importantly, we need to prevent the festering of issues and work better together to identify, fix, and understand root cause.”

Ortberg promised that the changes at the company will involve “more than the poster on the wall.” Boeing’s new culture will also include holding “leaders accountable in how they lead our team in delivering safe, high-quality products and services to our customers.”

The company leader also said Boeing has been working “feverishly” to find a solution to the strike, which is causing the company to lose hundreds of millions of dollars.

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