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Boeing supplier CEO Patrick Shanahan emerges as potential successor to Dave Calhoun

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Boeing supplier CEO Patrick Shanahan emerges as potential successor to Dave Calhoun
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Rebecca Kanable Assistant Editor | AviationPros

Patrick Shanahan, currently the CEO of Spirit AeroSystems, is being considered a top contender to take over as Boeing's CEO when Dave Calhoun steps down. Shanahan, who previously served as Acting Secretary of Defense under President Donald Trump and was a former top Boeing executive, brokered a complex three-way deal announced late Sunday night to split Spirit AeroSystems between Boeing and Airbus.

The deal involves returning major manufacturing facilities to Boeing that it sold off two decades ago. Just four months after Boeing announced its intention to reacquire most of this critical supplier, Shanahan secured an agreement through personal negotiations with senior leadership from both aviation giants.

Shanahan was appointed Spirit CEO late last year after the previous CEO Tom Gentile was fired. Under Gentile's leadership, Spirit faced financial losses, significant debt, and repeated quality defects. A fuselage panel blowout on a Boeing 737 Max last September exacerbated these issues. Part of Boeing’s response was to accept delivery of Max fuselages at the final assembly plant in Renton only if they were largely complete and defect-free.

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“Our teams have made critical improvements to the quality management system over the past six months,” Shanahan said Monday. “Those improvements will continue.” He added that bringing together Boeing and Spirit would enable greater integration and improve safety and quality systems.

For its part in the deal, Boeing will pay $4.7 billion in stock and take on Spirit’s net debt of about $3.6 billion. Meanwhile, Spirit will pay Airbus $559 million to take over money-bleeding facilities making A350 and A220 parts.

Financial analysts expressed skepticism regarding what the deal means for Boeing. Rob Stallard of Vertical Research Partners described it as "good for Spirit, good for Airbus, and less good for Boeing." Despite this assessment, Stallard acknowledged that bringing Spirit back in-house could help get the 737 program back on track.

Stewart Glickman of CFRA Research agreed that while beneficial for other parties involved, the deal is no panacea for Boeing's issues with regulators or its delivery cadence for 737 Max jets.

Ben Tsocanos from S&P Global Ratings noted that unless airplane production ramps up significantly by late this year, credit agencies might penalize Boeing.

Assuming regulatory approval is obtained and the deal is finalized within a year as expected, merging Spirit’s operations with Boeing’s will present challenges due to internal production problems at both companies. Analysts warn there'll be no quick fix; resolving these issues will require talent, training, and time rather than just a business agreement.

Despite these concerns, Shanahan remains optimistic about improving operational efficiencies through new technologies and revamped work procedures at Spirit AeroSystems.

“I feel really good about the progress,” he stated. “We’re getting back to being airplane builders.”

©2024 The Seattle Times. Visit seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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