Boeing’s Stephanie Pope gives a press conference at the Paris Le Bourget Airport, on June 20, 2023.
Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt | AFP | Getty Images
Boeing commercial airplanes head Stephanie Pope will focus on the recovery of the company’s crucial and challenged plane-making unit under a reorganization that ends her role as the company’s chief operating officer but leaves her as the No. 2 executive.
The move narrows the focus and responsibility of Pope. She already headed the unit making planes for airlines around the world and was the executive tasked with improving safety and raising airplane production following a series of accidents.
Pope’s role as chief operating officer ended as of Feb. 19, the company said on Tuesday.
Boeing does not plan to fill the chief operating officer position, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly.
Boeing shares were barely changed in after-hours trade.
Pope was appointed to the newly created role of chief operating officer in December 2023, after then-CEO David Calhoun named her as his choice to succeed him.
After the mid-air blowout of a panel on a nearly new 737 Max jet in January 2024, she was tapped to also run Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
The accident put renewed focus on production quality problems in the division and contributed to Calhoun’s exit from the company. In August, Kelly Ortberg became Boeing’s new chief executive.
Boeing’s commercial airplane production has struggled through a series of crises beginning in 2019, after two fatal 737 Max crashes revealed serious safety concerns. Historically, it has been the biggest of the company’s three divisions in terms of revenue and employees.
Deliveries to customers, however, have begun to pick up. Boeing delivered 45 airplanes in January, up from 30 the previous month and the most in a month for the U.S. planemaker since 2023.
Avolon CEO Andy Cronin said this month the aircraft lessor, a major Boeing customer, was “really encouraged by what we are seeing” at the company after touring production facilities in Seattle in January.