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.