The counselor and senior advisor to Boeing's board of directors, J. Michael Luttig, has retired, effective 31 December. Luttig has been managing for the board legal matters associated with the fatal crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, both of which operated Boeing 737 Max aircraft. Luttig was Boeing's general counsel from 2006 through May 2019, when he began advising the board of directors. He joined Boeing after serving 15 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. "Judge Luttig is one of the finest legal minds in the nation and he has expertly and tirelessly guided our company as general counsel, counselor and senior advisor," interim Boeing president and chief executive Greg Smith states. Smith, who had been serving as Boeing's chief financial officer, assumed interim chief executive duties on 23 December upon the resignation of Dennis Muilenburg. Board chair David Calhoun will take Smith's place as chief executive 13 January 2020.

Source: Cirium

(CNN)At least nine people have died after a plane carrying 95 passengers and five crew members crashed shortly after takeoff near the city of Almaty in Kazakhstan on Friday morning. The plane "lost altitude after takeoff and broke through a concrete fence," before colliding with a two-story building at approximately 7:22 a.m., local time, according to Almaty aviation authorities. Flight Z2100, operated by Kazakhstan-based Bek Air, was scheduled to fly from Almaty, the country's largest city, to the capital Nur-Sultan. Kazakh state media, citing the Internal Affairs Ministry, said at least nine people had been killed in the crash, and nine people, including six children, had been injured. Data provided by Flightradar24 suggests the flight crashed 19 seconds after takeoff, approximately 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) from the airport. Images of the crash site show the damaged plane broken into several parts in a snow covered field, with much of the fuselage still relatively intact. Airport authorities said emergency responders were now working to evacuate passengers and crew members from the wreckage. There were no reports of a fire following the crash.
Flightradar24 reports that the aircraft was a Fokker 100, a twin-turbofan medium sized jet.
The cause and circumstances of the crash would be placed under investigation, airport authorities said.
In a statement published online, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev expressed condolences to the families of the victims and warned that those responsible for the crash would face "severe punishment in accordance with the law."

Source: CNN

The departure from Boeing of former chief executive Dennis Muilenburg could bring the company one step closer to getting the 737 Max back in the sky, analysts say. But Muilenburg’s resignation, announced 23 December, caught some observers off guard and spurred speculation that more leadership shifts may be in the works. “The investor opinion of Mr Muilenburg had remained generally positive. However, we believe [Boeing] can now start to address some of the longer-term issues around its product portfolio and programme development efforts, and its communication around the Max should start to improve,” says a 23 December research note from financial services company Canaccord Genuity. Muilenburg will be succeeded by board chair David Calhoun, who will take the CEO role on 13 January. Chief financial officer Greg Smith will be Boeing’s top executive during the interim. Calhoun, now senior managing director at private equity company Blackstone Group, will step away from his “non-Boeing commitments” before becoming CEO, Boeing says. Canaccord calls Calhoun “well respected from his experience in the aerospace industry and specifically his history with GE. “We view his industry knowledge and credibility as a positive”. Also on 23 December, Boeing announced it had hired communications veteran Niel Golightly as senior vice-president of communications. Golightly, who most recently worked at Fiat Chrysler, succeeds Anne Toulouse. Boeing already had announced that Toulouse intends to retire in 2020. Analysts anticipate Calhoun’s tenure as CEO will be temporary. Michel Merluzeau, an aerospace consultant with AIR, suspects Calhoun will be a “placeholder”, overseeing the company until the Max returns to service. At that point, he thinks Boeing’s board will hire a someone fresh – and without links to the Max. “New team, new Boeing,” Merluzeau says. Teal Group aerospace analyst Richard Aboulafia says Calhoun will “be good for short-term stability”. But Calhoun’s experience working for Blackstone and General Electric may not be an ideal fit for an engineering company like Boeing, Aboulafia says. The leadership shift was not unexpected, but the timing was. “We are surprised by the timing, as we expected Boeing to maintain its current leadership structure until the Max had successfully returned to service,” says Canaccord. “However, the move points to the depth of communication issues and credibility Boeing currently has with regulators, customers, and politicians.” Muilenburg was roundly criticised in recent months for not adequately claiming Boeing’s role in two 737 Max crashes, and for giving overly rosy projections of when regulators will clear the Max to fly. It was Calhoun himself who led observers to suspect Muilenburg’s departure was not imminent. In October, Calhoun praised Muilenburg’s handling of the crisis. “He has our full confidence,” Calhoun said at the time. Boeing’s stock price bumped up about 3% on 23 December following news of Muilenburg’s exit. The stock’s movement likely reflects “the view that Boeing is now one step closer to” receiving approval from the Federal Aviation Administration, says Canaccord. The CEO shift follows the October departure of former Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Kevin McAllister, who was succeeded by Stan Deal, formerly chief of Boeing Global Services.